"And you're sure you wanted this, Mark? It is a terrible building and not a good neighbourhood." Debbie tells her son after she has shown him all the papers.
Since Mark turned 18 very recently, he has to sign everything, and Debbie was there to make sure everything went all right. But when she saw what he was buying and where it was located, she was not sure about it. She realised that he was being cheated of his money and that it was nowhere near as expensive as the owner demanded.
"I don't care about the money anyway. I don't have to take care of a family right now and basically got all of it for free anyway. I knew people were dumb, but to think that they would pay so much for a bit of Mars dust."
"You're being cheated, Mark. The building is terribly run down and located in a bad neighbourhood. You are paying roughly two to three times the normal price."
"I know, but it's still cheap. The reason for this is because of who owns the building. Crime rates in that area are astronomical, and the crime boss who owns it naturally thinks that he can take advantage of me. That's also why I wanted this to be the one I would acquire. Together with Invincible Inc., things will go rather well. Well, not at first, as I will be challenged and threatened, and they might even damage the property."
"So why do you want to do that?"
"Exactly, because that's what I want."
*Sigh*
"Mark, would you please explain this to me?"
"It's simple. I basically acquired a building with tenants, right?"
"Right."
"Now, instead of going out of my way to find criminals and beat them up, they will come to me."
"..."
"..."
*Sigh*
"It is stupid and smart at the same time, and for some reason, it's something you would do... I don't know what to say, Mark. Go for it."
"Oh, please don't stroke my ego any more than necessary. You see, there's actually more to this. Sure, I'll have quite a bit of trouble in the beginning. But later on, after putting my foot down and taking out all the criminals they sent after me, I can start investing in more real estate and improve the living conditions there. In turn, I will earn more, and capitalism does the rest."
"And how will you make sure that they don't realise that Mark Grayson, the owner of the building, is Invincible?" Debbie asks.
"Well, two things. First, I'm using another name. And second, that's why I founded Invincible Inc. It is also a security firm and the name that will protect me from others. I will use Invincible as the security. I pay for all my buildings, and no one will be surprised that Invincible appears every time they try to damage one of Mark Grandson's buildings. Ingenious."
"Insidous is the word you're looking for, Mark. However, Mark Grandson? Seriously?"
"What? Seems close enough."
"Oh, my. But I do agree that it is quite clever. And if it works, you will get more requests for Invincible Inc. wanting to be protected. I'm sure the prison might want to hire your services soon."
"Not a bad idea, Mom. Thanks."
"Where are you going now? Study?"
"Nah, I already did that. I'm going out. See how my building looks, and maybe I'll find someone to fight along the way."
"Sure, honey. Have fun. Oh, and by the way, I called Amber and-"
"No. Just no. I love you, but you have to leave my love life for me to take care of."
"Very well, Mark. But I at least want to see someone you are interested in before I turn 50."
"I feel like that's insulting, but you're also right. Sure, let's set 50 as the deadline. It still takes very long."
"Oh, you charmer. Now get out of here."
.
Invincible flies through the city and sees an old acquaintance again. Killcannon, the second villain he 'took care of', if that's what kneekapping him can be called. He wonders what he thinks about and why he does this again. Never mind, Mark thinks and approaches the man.
"So, what are you doing, Killcannon?"
"Ah!" Killcannon shouts in surprise as he almost bumps into Invincible.
"Invincible! Aha, time for our rematch. RAAHHH!"
Killcannon starts to fire his cannon at him, shooting red laser blasts at him. Invincible takes the hits and doesn't bother to dodge them, since they would only cause property damage. As a newly made building owner, he has some decency.
"This time, I'm ready!" Killcannon shouts and runs towards Invincible.
He pulls back his fist and punches him.
*Thud*
He suddenly realises just how big Invincible truly is. Somehow, he managed to stay somewhat lean while being seriously jacked. He is tall and strong and is shaking his head in disappointment. Killcannon's eyes widen as Invincible grabs his arm and closes his fist.
*CRACK*
"AAAAAARRRGHHH!!!"
Invincible pulls the poor sod towards him hitting him in the stomach, uppercutting him and grabbing his head. Then he does what he did the first time they met. He pulls his head down, right into his rising knee.
*BOOM*
And to finish it off, he kicks his knee to the side again, breaking it and causing it to bend 100° to the wrong side.
"ARGH-"
*BOOM*
A final right hook sends Killcannon to dreamland, saving him from the pain for now.
"It's Good seeing you again, Killcannon. Let's do this again sometime," Invincible says and takes to the sky. He has something else to do right now.
As Invincible flies through the sky, he sees that a building is on fire, oddly close to where the building that he bought is located. He increases his speed and reaches the scene. And indeed, it is his building that is burning. He notices that no one is inside it and that all the tenants are standing on the street looking at their burning home. From the building, a figure appears, clad in stone. Invincible recognises that one. He had a run-in with him a while back. In fact, he was the first one he punched two weeks after getting his powers. How melancholic for Invincible to meet the first and second criminals he took care of on the same day. And how pissed he is right now, to see his buidling on fire at the same day as well.
"Hey! What'd we ever do to you?" one of the tenants asks.
Titan stops walking and turns around, looking at the people.
"Kevin, shut up. Leave it alone," a woman says.
Invincible observes the man grumbling and turning around, walking towards the people. He pulls out some money and hands it to the people.
"There's a place on Third and Parkland. They'll put you up for a few weeks."
"How generous of you. But I'm not sure that covers all the expenses."
Everyone looks up at the sky and sees Invincible floating there. He touches down on the ground and walks towards the man who just burned down his building on the very first day he bought it. That couldn't have been more than a few hours ago, so what was this? Invincible was pissed. He expected this to happen, but on the first day?
"Invincible."
"Tighten."
"...For some reason, I think you just said the wrong word there."
"You're imagining things. What I'm not imagining, though, is that you just burned down that building on the very day my employer bought it."
"You work for the guy who bought the building?" Titan asks.
"Indeed. Mark Grandson hired Invincible Inc. to protect his property. And here you are burning it down... why is that exactly?"
"What? Invincible protects our home?"
"Little good it did us."
The people started talking about it. Titan holds up his hands.
"Listen-"
*BAM*
Invincible punches Titan, breaking off the stone on his face. Titan is shaken, but he isn't knocked unconscious, thanks to Invincible's kindness. He replaces the missing stone and covers himself again. Titan looks at Invincible, who walks forward and realises that he isn't happy.
"You will stay here if you know what's good for you. I'll get some water." Invincible says and disappears, making his way to get water for the burning building.
He is pissed right now and doesn't like this situation at all. He knows that from the small amount of Mars dust he sold, he would get filthy rich from starting a mining company, but he also wants to do some good by helping the neighbourhood that has it far worse than he does. It was something he enjoyed doing for some reason, but the prick burns down his building right away. He goes ahead and gathers a lot of water, flies back to his building and throws all the water on it, putting out the fire in most parts. However, he looks around and notices that Titan has left.
"Thank you, Invincible," one of his tenants tells him, and he nods.
"I'm sorry I wasn't here sooner. I'll make sure this doesn't happen again. Do any of you know where Tighten left?"
"He left as soon as you flew away. I don't know where he went," she says.
"That's alright. I'll find him. Mark Grandson will cover the expenses soon; I do apologise for this mess." Invincible says, and then flies off.
.
Invincible floats in the air, looking at the figure walking out of a rather famous laboratory. He is wearing a grey hoodie, trying to hide his identity. He uses it when he covers himself with stone. Titan has just stolen a very advanced CPU, capable of doing calculative miracles and more advanced than what any other computer could do, and Invincible has observed him do it. He has followed the man around the city for two days after he found him and has noticed the people he scared into paying back money they owed Titan's boss. So, instead of dealing with Titan, he waits until the man leads him to his boss.
Titan makes his way across the city and moves to the expensive district, a large skyscraper. Knowing that that must be where the boss is, Invincible gets ready.
Titan arrives at the top floor and walks into the office of his boss, Machine Head. He places the computer chip on the desk.
"Not even scratched? Not bad for a guy with gravel for fingers." Machine Head says.
"There's a problem," Titan says.
"What's that?"
"When I burned down that building you sold, on the same day, I was caught by Invincible."
"Caught? Then how are you here?" Machine Head asks.
"He left to put out the fire, and I slipped away then. But he will be looking for me and, in turn, you."
"Hah! Do you think an upstart in tights scares me? With this chip here, I will see it coming when he even thinks of-"
*CRASHHH*
The ceiling is broken, and Invincible crashes through it, landing on the wooden desk. Before Machine Head can do anything about it, Invincible grabs the chip.
"I'll take that, thank you."
"Wha- what the fuck!?!" Machine Head curses.
"Oh, hey, Tighten. Thanks for leading me here. Far easier than playing detective and all that." Invincible says.
"You broke my desk! That was imported Italian maple! Also, seriously?!"
"Hmm? Oh, sorry about that. I suppose it's revenge for burning down the building, which I gave my name to keep it safe." Invincible says.
"That?! That was nothing! I burn down buildings all the time and no fuck cares about it. THis is my city, and a little fuck like you, dressed in tights and bloated with steroids won't change that any time soon. Do you think I have gotten this position solely because of my good looks, kid? I have connections. I will fold you in half and feed you to the worms, and then I will go to your family and skin them alive, do you hear me?!"
"You done?"
"Not even close!"
*BAAM*
Invincible slaps Machine Head and knocks him on the ground. The remains of the maple desk are destroyed, and Machine Head has a handprint on the side of his head. That kickstarts several things. Isotope uses his powers and teleports Invincible as far away as he can.
"Quick, let's get out of here, before he comes back!" he says and runs towards Machine Head, helping him up.
"Boss, you alright there? Boss? We need to go."
"Urhwooo... diiidd anyyoone get the nuumbeeeer of that plaate?"
"Ugh, what?" Isotope is confused.
"Leave him. Invincible will deal with him." Titan says and runs out of the room.
Isotope looks at Machine Head and thinks about the repercussions of today's events. The Order won't be happy about this at all. However, Mister Liu might not mind it at all. He looks at Titan and thinks about his words. If Isotope followed Titan, he might still keep his position. He stands up and is just about to teleport out of there as...
*CRASSHHH*
Invincible crashes through the window and reaches for his neck. Out of instinct, Isotope teleports somewhere without realising where that is. Invincible stands in the room of the penthouse and looks around. The security suddenly starts to fire at him, but he ignores them. He throws several pebbles at them, knocking them out. He will deal with Machine Head first. So he grabs the man by the head and flies into the sky.