28 Aftermath

A few weeks after the battle Mark had been hard at work helping the thraxans rebuild their ruined home world.

" And... There."

Mark sighed as he placed the final column in place for the grand palace.

" Very good, Mark. This beam will be the support structure for the Grand Palace. I can't thank you enough for all you've done. Without you the cleanup would have taken generations. But with your help I may very well see the rebirth of our great city in my lifetime."

Andressa who had grown older in the weeks Mark was there said to the boy with a smile on her face.

" I'm glad I could help. After everything your people have gone through, it's the least I could do."

Mark replied.

" I'm sorry for the interruption Queen Andressa. But you told me to inform you the moment a new space vessel was completed that could return the Mark Grayson to his planet. It's ready."

One of the thraxans said to Andressa.

" Excellent. Make the preparations at once. I want the ship prepared to launch before our suns being their descent."

Andressa told the man.

" Yes, Queen. Your will be done."

The drone said to the woman before running off.

" Andressa, are you sure about that? I mean I could stay behind and help you guys rebuild. If I helped, we could be done by the end of the week."

Mark told the woman.

" I'd ask you please not question me in front of my subjects, Mark. Your time here has been long. Too long. This is not your responsibility."

Andressa told Mark.

" My responsibility is to help any and everyone who needs it. Andressa."

Mark explained to the woman as they walked.

" Be that as it may, you've already done more than enough for my people. You have a life to return to. I regret it has taken this long to rediscover the technology to get you home. You must go. No. You must go, Mark. You must go and be with your people. If for no other reason than you remind me of him... Of what I lost."

Andressa explained to Mark.

" Yeah, my dad. Andressa, listen my dad is fine. He is alive and he will come home. He'll figure some way."

Mark told the woman with conviction.

" I hope you are right. More than you could ever know. Now, come. There is much we must discuss before your departure."

Andressa told mark as she gestured for him to follow her.

Andressa led mark inside the ruins of the Grand Palace to where baby Oliver was waiting.

" Let me guess. You want me to take my brother don't you."

Mark asked the woman.

" Yes, I do."

Andressa replied.

" Brother!"

baby oliver called out to the man as he approached.

" Hey little guy. Have you been playing?"

Mark asked the now two-year-old looking kid.

" Andressa, are you sure about this? You don't have a very long life. Are you sure you should have him not know who his mother was? Or what his people are?"

Mark asked the woman.

" Don't you see how much I've aged since you arrived? I understand that to you not much time has passed but by your standards I don't have much time left to live. By his standards I don't. What happens to him when I die? I'll die before he's able to form a sentence at the rate his aging is slowing down. Entire kingdoms will fall and rise before he reaches adulthood. Who knows how our people will grow and change during his lifetime? he could never live a life here. He doesn't belong with us, Mark. He belongs with you."

Andressa explained to Mark.

" Okay. I promise you I'll take good care of him. I'll raise him to be as big and strong as his dad. And I promise he will know who his mother was Andressa."

Mark promised the woman.

" Thank you, Mark. That is all I could ever ask of you. Now, I believe it is time for you to go."

Andressa thanked mark before escorting him to his ship. With one last kiss to her son, Andressa watched as the boy and Mark began their trek back home. Waving goodbye to her son one last time before she would die.

Mark sat in the cockpit of the ship and strapped Oliver in the other chair as the ship flew through space.

" Your life is going to be so messed up. Hopefully we can fix that little buddy."

Mark rubbed Oliver's head.

After another seven days Mark and oliver departed the ship that had carried them back to earth and watched as it returned to where it came.

Mark looked at Oliver as he held the boy in his arms and sighed before flying home.

Mark landed on the balcony outside his window and entered expecting to see eve, but the room was empty.

" Guess, she's in Africa. Well, hopefully mom will be home soon."

Mark said to Oliver as he changed out of his ruined clothes and walked downstairs with Oliver to wait for his moms return. After work Debbie returned home.

I'm sorry, Eve. He's not back yet. I know you're worried too. How are things in Africa?"

Debbie asked the girl as she walked up to the house.

" That's great, really. It's good to know that there are people with your abilities out there smart enough to realize they're plenty of you flying around and punching things."

Debbie replied as the two continued their conversation.

Debbie pulled out her keys and unlocked the door.

" Oh, Okay. I'll let you go. It was good talking to you."

Debbie said to Eve before hanging up the phone. She walked in the door and was surprised to see mark standing there.

" Uh."

Debbie uttered.

" Hi mom. Miss me?"

Mark asked the woman as he waved at her.

" Mark!!"

Debbie yelled as she ran up to the boy. She grabbed him and pulled him into a tight hug and he hugged her back.

" Oh, God Mark. I've been so worried about you. You've been gone for over a month!"

Debbie said to the boy.

" Next time I got to another planet, remind me to pack more stuff. You wouldn't believe what these people used as toothpaste. It was painful."

Mark chuckled as he explained to his mom his experience on a different planet.

" I'm just glad you're okay."

Debbie said to Mark.

" Mom, we really need to talk. On this other planet... I saw dad."

Mark said to the woman.

" What?!"

Debbie asked in shock.

" He was there. He sent for me. That's why the alien came to this planet for me."

Mark explained to Debbie.

" Your father was there? What was he doing?"

Debbie asked.

" He'd taken over. But they let him. It's kind of hard to explain. Basically, the oldest being rules. And dad was the oldest thing they'd ever seen. So, he ruled."

Mark explained to the woman.

" King of the planet? Why did he need you there?"

Debbie asked.

" He wasn't supposed to take over that planet. He was supposed to take over earth. The viltrumites came for him."

Mark replied.

" His own people? He brought you there to fight his people? But when he was on this planet he fought you and..."

" It's complicated. I knew he'd realize he was wrong. And even he admitted that his time on earth had changed him."

Mark told the woman as he cut her off.

" Did he really say that?"

Debbie asked.

" Yeah, he did."

Mark replied.

" Did he say anything about me?"

Debbie asked with a glimmer of hope in her eyes

" Yeah, he loves you mom. But he feels like he can never return."

Mark lied to the woman as he didn't want to completely crush whatever hope she had left.

" But mom, there's more that I need to tell you. You should probably sit down somewhere."

Mark told the woman.

" What is it?"

Debbie asked in confusion.

As she asked Oliver came waddling into the room and walked straight up to Mark.

" Brother?"

Oliver called out to Mark.

Debbie turned and looked at the purple baby in shock.

" Who? Where did he? Did he just call you brother?"

Debbie asked as she watched Mark pick oliver up.

" Yeah. He did."

Mark replied.

" What are you telling me?"

Debbie asked.

" He made it clear he wasn't going to come back. He couldn't. So, he started a new life. He found a new wife and they made him."

Mark explained to the Debbie

" But if that's true then why doesn't this woman have the child?"

Debbie asked.

" These aliens. Their lifespans are short. Very short in fact. Andressa was already old by the time I left. Her people only live for nine months. Because of dad's DNA this baby here is going to have a longer life span than them. By the time he reaches my age his mother and the rest of the people currently alive on that planet will have been dead for maybe a century compared to us. He'd outlive everything on that planet. His mother knew that. That's why she asked me to take care of him. I know it's hard and I know it's weird. But this was the only thing I could do. But I don't know a thing about raising a kid and my life is already so busy I was kind of hoping you'd take care of him."

Mark explained to the woman.

" Mark? Mark this is a lot to process. I don't know if I can take care of him."

Debbie replied to the man.

" Mom, please. I don't know where else I could take him."

Mark replied.

" Pentagon. Now."

Mark was suddenly radioed by cecil who did not sound too happy.

' Oh, I am not dealing with this today.'

Mark thought to himself.

" Mom, Cecil wants to see me. I don't think he's happy about me skating off to another planet. Can you at least watch him until I get back? I also need to see how Eve's doing. I doubt she'd be pleased to find out I'm home from someone else. Could we finish this tonight?"

Mark asked the woman.

" Mark, I don't know."

Debbie replied.

" Mom, please."

mark begged the woman.

" Okay. Go on."

Debbie finally agreed to watch the boy.

" Thanks."

Mark said to the woman. He handed Oliver over to Debbie and quickly left the house.

Debbie looked down at the baby and smiled upon seeing him smiling up at her.

Mark flew to the pentagon as fast as he could and arrived to see Cecil sitting at a bench in front of the white house and touched down right in front of him.

" Did you have fun on your little alien adventure?"

cecil asked as Mark landed in front of him.

" Yeah, i did. Got a problem with that?"

Mark asked in a condescending tone.

" Little bit. But we'll get there. So, I heard you saw your father. Do you feel like he's no longer a threat to the planet?"

cecil asked.

" Him, nope. But his people. My people they definitely still are. They actually put me in charge of this planet. And bumped the deadline down to a hundred years."

Mark explained to the man.

" Thet put you in charge?"

Cecil asked.

" Yeah, they're a bunch of arrogant jerks. They don't think I'm going to go against them. They think I'm going to overcome my senses and take over this planet. Honestly, they probably don't care either way. In a hundred they are coming. Or who knows maybe sooner than that. Maybe this is all an elaborate test. Guess we'll cross that bridge when we get there."

Mark explained to the man the best he could.

" Okay, now that we're past that. Let your mother know we can help with that. Having another viltrumite raised by her to be a fine upstanding citizen like you is in all our best interests. We could arrange legitimate adoption papers and give the childbirth records and even employ some low-tech Holographics to match his skin color. The advanced aging will be tricky. We couldn't allow the child to attend public schools because someone would notice his... uniqueness... So, we would provide a private tutor. We could make this very easy on her. Or we could help you locate a foster family... If she didn't want the child."

Cecil explained to Mark everything he would do to help make things easier.

" I'll let her know. Now, is there anything else you need to say? Because I'm going to save you some time. I don't work for you Cecil. We're partners. And when I decide to go out into space and help, I'm going to do just that. You're going to stay on earth and not worry about it. I can't be everywhere at once and if something happened while I was gone that really required my attention, then know I am sorry. But at the end of the day, you're all still here, so I don't see any problems. If you need me I'll be here. But I need you to understand that I do not Bark when you say bark. Now, going forwards you can choose to respect my words and know that there is going to be a time when I'm required to leave this planet to keep it safe. Or I can grab Eve, I can grab my family and we can leave for good. There are many planets out there in space that can support life Cecil. Think about it."

Mark explained to the man before flying off.

Cecil sat there in silence as he mewled over what Mark had said to him.

After flying off and leaving Cecil behind, Mark headed straight for Eve's home in Africa.

It had been a long day and after helping revitalize more of Africa's grasslands with life, Eve returned to her home to rest for the night and prepare for the next day. As she got in bed Eve heard a knock at her window. When she walked over and pulled the curtains back, she was surprised to See Mark floating outside her window.

" MARK!"

Eve shouted happily.

She quickly opened the window and was tackled to the bed by Mark, who started tickling her stomach.

" Mark! Stop it! Hehe! That tickles!"

Eve shouted as she struggled against Marks assault. Mark continued his assault until eve managed to use her powers and flip the two of them over so that Eve was on top of him.

Eve looked down at Mark. her breath ragged from laughing so much. She leaned down and kissed him right on his lips before speaking.

" Welcome home, honey. How was your trip?"

Eve asked the man.

" It was wild. Boy, do I have a story to tell you babe. But first I missed my little snow fairy."

Mark said to eve before kissing her again.

" I've missed you too, now I got a itch. Think you can help me scratch it cowboy?"

Eve asked as she took her top off revealing her beautiful breasts. Her cherry-like nipples were already hard and Mark could feel she was already well beyond wet.

Mark grabbed Eve by her waist and flipped her back over.

" I can do more than that baby. You better pray to god. Because I'm about to send you to him."

Mark told Eve.

The two then spent the entire night making love to one another after Mark's long mission.