24 Getting Stronger

Kara took her friend by the arm and led her back to her quarters on the Watchtower "Friend Kara, is everything okay? You seem to be quite agitated." Kori said as they entered her room and Kara sat Kori on her bed. Kara realised that she was quite agitated as her eyes were glowing red, she calmed herself down by rubbing her belly feeling her babies heart pulse through her hands.

She then refocused on why she was here "Kori you need to stop what you're doing with Mark." She said sternly.

Kori looked at her with a slightly confused look "What do you mean Friend Kara did I do something offensive?" She asked

Kara huffs "Every time you get close to Mark or even talk about him I can smell the arousal coming from between your legs, I could practically hear your vagina pulsing when you spoke to him earlier and even now this room is full of your smell." She complained.

Kori giggled brightly "My apologies Friend Kara I did not know my scent was bothering you so much." She said apologetically.

"It doesn't bother me... I just..."

Kori inspected her facial expressions carefully "Could it be you are jealous Friend Kara?" She asked as she stood up.

Kara crossed her arms and a sour expression appeared on her face, Kori smiled as she walked behind Kara and wrapped her arms around Kara "Are you and Honoured Mark engaged in a relationship?" She asked as she put her chin on Kara's shoulder.

"Ye-" Kara cut herself off before she could finish as she'd never really thought about what Mark and herself were to each other. The circumstances that brought them together were completely screwed up, and she didn't even know if what she felt was a result of her out of control hormones or actual affection.

"I'm not sure..." she ended up saying, Kori could hear the distress in her voice when Kara said that and so she hugged her tighter.

"Do not worry Friend Kara I will not attempt to steal Mark away, but I simply cannot help myself around him." Kori said wistfully.

"Everything I've heard about Viltrumites being heroes who only conquer planets to help them or to rid them of tyrants was proven untrue in the last few months." She said as she detached herself from Kara.

"It's as if finding out your childhood heroes were always villains..." she said as she wiped her eyes.

"So to find that there is one such Viltrumite that lives up to your expectations, I find it hard to control myself." She explained.

Kara sighed and gave her friend a smile "I suppose that makes sense." She said.

"I also want him to impregnate me."

Kara walked past Kori and left the room leaving Kori looking a bit confused.

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"Why did you call me here?" Mark asked as he stood in front of Batman who was currently typing on a computer terminal.

For a moment Batman didn't answer him but after a while he stood up from his seat and turned around to look at Mark "I still don't trust you." He said bluntly to Mark.

However before Mark could speak he held his hand up "But it seems my judgement as of late is not reliable as your actions have shown you'll do what's right when it counts." He stated.

"Follow me." He said as he walked past him, Mark followed as he honestly had nothing better to do at the moment.

"Your father is free and I have to assume he has contacted the Viltrumite empire, when they send reinforcements then only a handful of people will be able to stop them, one of which is you." Batman stated as he walked with Mark.

"Listen you don't need to keep worrying over if I'm about to turn cloak and join the empire, I'm a lot more human than I am Viltrumite." Mark said in a tired voice.

"That's not what I'm trying to say." Batman replied.

"From the information we managed to extract from Nolan ten years ago we managed to learn a lot about Viltrumites." He stated.

"Kryptonian's get their power from a yellow star, the light empowers their cells which gives them their abilities, Viltrumites however are born with all of their abilities." He continued.

"What are you getting at." Mark asked.

"While a Viltrumites muscles are composed of ultra-dense tissue they can still be torn and so can get stronger, whether by fighting, or training." Batman replied as they came to a stop outside of the room. Batman typed a code into the console next to the door and it opened leading into what Mark saw was a state of the art gym.

The gym looked like it could be straight out of the future, some of the machines he didn't even recognise "This is the Watchtower gym, a combined effort between Cyborg, Mr Terrific and myself." Batman stated.

"Seems pretty redundant for most of your members," Mark said as he looked around.

"There are quite a number of heroes who can still benefit from physical training, and those that can't still benefit from the psychological effect that can come from exercising." Batman explained.

"Psychological?"

Batman nodded "Have you never been to the gym purely out of the frustration you feel and want to work off?" He asked.

Mark nodded, most of the time he worked out in Teds gym was because he felt frustrated. He could definitely see why heroes would need a way to burn off some steam like that "So you're saying if I work out I'll get stronger?" Mark said to which Batman nodded.

"Those weight machines make use of small versions of the artificial gravity we have on the Watchtower as well as specially designed magnetic generators, the treadmill is a similar design to one the flash has used and that punching bag is made of the same material we used to imprison Nolan." Batman explained as he gestured to the different machines.

"There is also a chamber back there that can simulate heavier gravity, it should help you with increasing your flight speed." He continued to explain.

Mark looked around as he walked and  picked up one of the dumbbells that was on a rack, it felt about the same to him as lifting a match was "Not all of this are designed with you in mind, there are still a number of people in the league who do not have enhanced strength." Batman told him.

Mark nodded before putting it down "I assume you're telling me all this for a reason?" Mark asked.

"The likelihood of a Viltrumite invasion had become a probable event, and I know you'll fight when the time comes, this is just giving you the tools to make survival more likely." Batman stated.

"You have five days until you head out, make use of them." Batman said before turning on his heels and leaving the gym. With Batman gone Mark wandered around the Gym looking at the equipment, if he was honest with himself very little looked familiar he guessed he'd have to figure it out.

One apparatus looked quite interesting, it had two pieces of metal connected to each other, each piece of metal was rectangular and around 7ft high and 4ft wide, the poles that connected them both looked like coils. Mark ducked underneath and inside where he leaned back against one of the metal plates.

*User detected*

*Please select weight*

"Umm Max I guess?" Mark replied, what he didn't expect was the other sheet of metal to come slamming into him, it would've smashed into him had he not brought his hands up in time and stopped it. Most things that came at him at that speed would have smashed across his body, but this metal didn't even have a dent. Not only that but Mark actually felt like he couldn't push back, he was stuck "What the hell!" He said to himself.

"Computer reset weight." A voice said from behind him.

Mark took a deep breath as he rolled his wrists, he looked over to his right where the voice came from and was surprised to see Superboy who was wearing shorts and a tank top "You shouldn't start on this machine, it's basically a railgun that you do press-ups with." Connor said before heading over to another machine.

"Thanks..." Mark said unsure of what else to say, he did throw Superboy across the state and then beat him a second time so he didn't exactly think they were friends.

Connor didn't say anything else and tapped on a panel near the machine, he then stood inside of it and reached up to these handles so it made him look like he was making a 'Y' shape. He started to pull them down like he was doing a cable workout, but to Marks surprise he was struggling a bit with each rep.

Mark got out of what he now knew was a functioning railgun which seemed a little overboard when considering it was basically used as a bench press "So you come here a lot?" Mark asked as he walked to an identical machine near Connor.

"Yeah."

"Anyone else come here?"

"Yeah."

"You do anything else here besides lift?"

"Yeah."

"You don't like me much."

"Yeah."

"Look I'm sorry I whipped you across the state and then beat you again, it's hard controlling your strength sometimes and I thought you were at least as strong as me." Mark said in a poor attempt to reconcile, however all it did was cause Connors eyebrows to twitch.

Connor stops pulling and steps out of the machine "Listen you must have the wrong idea cause you're definitely not stronger than me." He said shoving his finger into Marks chest.

Mark laughs mockingly "I knocked you on your ass multiple times." He replied.

"Cause you can fly, and your other weird powers, but pure strength I win." Connor said with a cocky grin on his face.

"Is that right?" Mark said as he stepped closer to Connor.

"Yeah it is." Replied Connor.

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"AHHHH." Mark groaned as he pulled the weight doing his thousandth rep, Connor who was on the same one was equally struggling. They had both competed on every machine in the gym apart from the railgun and neither one of them had slowed down yet.

"You ready to give up!" Mark shouted at Connor who growled.

"Not on your life!" Connor replied as he kept lifting.

Though a couple thousand reps later they both started to see the futility of what they were doing, while it was giving them a good work out they could still keep going "This is starting to seem pointless." Mark said as he pulled his machine down once more.

Connor looked at Mark and nodded at him in agreement "Gravity room, it's built like a prison cell for sparring." He stated.

Mark let go of the machine with a grin on his face "Let's go." He said before taking off his shirt and following Connor into the chamber. Connor went up the the console and started typing away, the room suddenly went red and Mark felt the increased gravity hit him though it wasn't anything bad.

As Connor slid his finger upwards Mark could feel the increased weight on his body, it felt similar to when he'd use his power so it was pretty easy to get used to "No flying, no powers, just strength." Connor said as he turned around and looked at Mark cracking his neck.

"Fine by me." Mark replied with a smirk on his face.

Connor roared as he lunged toward Mark with his fist drawn back, Mark brought his hand up to defend himself from the blow but he didn't take into account the decreased reaction time meaning Connors blow struck him right in the face sending him straight into the chamber wall and then into the floor. Mark got up before rushing forward throwing his own punch at Connor that he sidestepped, Mark them hooked his hand around Connors neck and dragged him right into a headbutt.

Mark then deflected the wild blow that Connor sent out and slammed his elbow into the same spot his head had hit "What's a matter Superboy, not feeling very strong today?" Mark mocked though it would last for long as Connor pushed off his feet lunged towards Mark again tackling him to the ground, they struggled for dominance as they rolled around though eventually Connor got up and grabbed Mark by the leg before swinging him at the wall.

However before he could even hit the ground Connor was charging again and shoulder checked him straight into the wall again making Mark splutter and cough up a bit of blood "I guess if you can't fly you wouldn't be much use would you." Connor said as he stood above Mark.

Mark smiled as he pushed himself up against the wall "I'm just going east against you, no use making you cry for the third time." He said before launching off the ground taking him and Connor into the air where he slammed his fist into Connor's face multiple times before spinning around and kicking him into the ground, Mark then landed feet first into Connor's stomach which he really felt.

Mark let Connor get up as he stood with his arms crossed. Connor raised his fists as he got into a rudimentary boxing stance, he got closer to Mark before launching a combination of a few jabs before trying to hook his jaw. Mark bobbed his head left and right before leaning back to avoid the jab, he then went in for a straight which caught him by surprise.

Mark then caught the next fist he sent before sending his into Connors stomach and then slamming Connor's own fist into his face. Mark then booted Connor straight to the back wall where it took him a few seconds to get up.

"You gonna give up yet?" Mark asked

"Never..." Connor replied.

———————————————————-

(Six hours later)

Kara walked into the gym to find it empty, when she asked Batman where Mark was and he told her the Gym she expected to see him straight away but it seems like he left already, at least that's what Kara thought until she heard the loud bang coming from the gravity room.

With a frown on her face she walked towards the chamber growing more and more concerned as she did. When she opened the door and stepped into the chamber she was immediately met with the form of Connor being thrown right at her, lifting up her and she backhanded him out of the way sending him into the adjacent wall.

"Kara? What're you doing here." Mark asked. Most of Marks outfit was torn and he was covered in multiple bruises and cuts the worst of which were in his face though they'd heal.

"It's dinner time, I thought you'd want me to call you so we could have it together." Kara explained.

Mark could tell by her expression that she wasn't happy about being forgotten "Sure let's go." He said with a nervous smile. Mark looked over to Superboy who was equally as bruised as he was.

"Same time tomorrow?" He asked

"Yeah." He simply replied.

Marks whole body felt sore, he hadn't felt like this in such a long time, he had forgotten how good it felt to have a proper workout. Mark walked over towards Kara and they left the room with Mark grabbed his T-shirt on the way out, he was definitely going to sleep well tonight.

———————————————————-

(Five days later)

Mark yawned as he stood with Kara in the hanger bay, Donna, Connor and Dick stood with him as they waited for Batman who was uncharacteristically late "I told you we could've slept in more." He whispered to Kara though Kara only hit his shoulder and told him to be quiet as she wasn't the only on in the room with super hearing.

Which was proven by the small smile Connor had on his face making Kara blush. However before anything else could happen the door to the hanger opened and Batman walked in, with what Mark saw as a green woman with red hair behind him. In the corner of his eye he saw Connor stiffen and then purposely look away.

"This is Miss Martian, she will be the fifth member of your group." Batman stated.

"What we couldn't get Martian Manhunter? No offence." Mark said.

"None taken." Miss Martian said with a smile.

"He's busy." Batman simply replied.

"Miss Martian is just as capable as he is, her powers make her particularly suited to this type of mission as well as the ship she uses." Batman explained.

"It's good to see you Megan." Dick said with a smile ignoring Batman and Marks quibbling.

"Yeah we thought you wouldn't be coming back so soon." Donna said as she walked forward and hugged the girl.

"Well I did have a few more months left but it seems this mission is important, don't worry I won't let you down." Miss Martian said determinedly.

She then looked over to Connor who hadn't said a single word to her nor even looked at her "Hey Connor..." she said tentatively.

"Are we starting the mission yet or what?" Connor asked impatiently.

Batman nodded "You'll take Miss Martians Bioship to the preselected coordinates, I've managed to organise you some equipment that will help you blend in, don't forget your mission is to search and destroy if you cannot recover." Batman stated.

Batman then looked at Dick "I don't need to tell you how important this is do I." He said in a serious tone.

"No..." Dick replied.

"Then move out." Batman stated before turning around and leaving.

Miss Martian reached into her pocket and took out what looked like a small ball, she floated it to the middle of the hanger where it transformed into a ship 'That's pretty cool.' Mark thought to himself.

"Let's go guys!" Miss Martian said brightly as she floated over to her ship that opened as she got closer. Dick and Donna followed after her with Connor reluctantly trailing behind.

"I wish I could come with you..." Kara said in a quiet voice.

Mark pulled her close and kissed her on the head "I won't be long, this'll be easy after all I'm probably the strongest person on the planet at the moment." He said with a confident smile making Kara laugh.

"Be careful, make sure you don't do anything too dangerous." Kara warned before pulling him by his neck and kissing him.

"No promises." Mark said teasingly before heading onto the bioship which lifted off the ground and flew out the hanger.

(AN: Okay so next chapter officially begins Mark getting into the auction, this will be the last chapter where you can recommend something to be in the auction. For example if you want a crossover character or perhaps an item from another show/comic, then this is the time to mention it. If it's not completely ridiculous then I don't mind adding it. And btw I'm 90% sure that I'm right about viltrumites being able to get stronger by training their bodies, not entirely sure about Kryptonians though, but for the sake of this fic consider everything I wrote to be right. Hope you enjoyed the chapter.)

(Btw Grammerly is being a bit of a dick so apologises if there are any mistakes)

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