Conner and I fists met first at the same time. One second we were standing several yards apart, the next second, we vanished from sight then we reappeared inches from each other and collided in the center again with a sound like thunder cracking across open sky.
The impact shoved the grass flat beneath us in a wide circle, dust and loose dirt blasting outward in a rippling wave. My forearm trembled from the force of his strike, but I held my stance, my feet digging into the ground.
Conner grinned through clenched teeth. I grinned back and then we separated.
He came in low and fast. His right fist shot toward my ribs like a cannonball. I twisted my hips, letting the strike scrape past my side while my left hand slapped against his wrist and redirected the force. My right jab snapped toward his face, followed by a tight cross, then a hook aimed at his jaw.
Conner blocked the jab, rolled under the cross, and caught the hook with his forearm. The impact still pushed him half a step sideways.
"Boxing? Not bad" he asked.
"Ted drilled the basics into, but don't think that's all I have." I said.
"All that matters is if your hits land." He fired back.
Conner's launched forward. His style looked familiar at first. Boxing fundamentals. A good guard. Sharp jabs. Tight elbows. Heavy straight punches. But his rhythm was different from mine. His shoulders rolled as he stepped in, his fists moving fast enough to blur.
I slipped the first jab, blocked the second, and ducked under a straight right. My footwork kept me moving at an angle, not backward. Ted would have killed me if I only retreated in straight lines. I stepped outside Conner's lead foot and hit him with a quick three-punch combination to the body.
Left hook to ribs. Right straight to solar plexus. Short uppercut under the guard.
Conner grunted, but he didn't fold. His TTK field flashed red for half a second, absorbing and spreading the force. Then his shoulder crashed into me, and he drove forward like a truck.
I braced with my TTK and slid backward through the grass, boots carving lines into the earth.
Conner pushed and I let him.
At the last second, I shifted my stance, hooked one arm around his shoulder, caught his wrist, and used his momentum to turn him. It was basic judo, modified through flight and strength. Conner's feet left the ground as I threw him over my hip.
He twisted midair, caught himself with flight, and came back down feet-first.
"Nice try but that won't work."
I smirked. "You're heavier than you look."
" No, you're just rusty."
He launched himself again. This time we met with kicks.
Conner threw a roundhouse toward my head. I raised my forearm and blocked, the strike cracking against my guard. I answered with a low kick toward his thigh, then followed with a Wing Chun chain punch sequence aimed at his centerline. My hands moved quickly in compact and direct strikes, each strike reinforced by a thin layer of tactile force.
Conner's eyes sharpened.
He caught one wrist, but I rotated out, but then he grabbed me again.
I stepped in closer instead of pulling back, trapping his arm for half a second and driving my elbow toward his chest. He absorbed it, then shoved me back with a burst of red TTK that hit like a wave.
I flew backward, heels skimming the ground before I lifted fully into the air. Conner came after me immediately.
The two of us rose above the field, and started trading blows in midair.
It felt strange and familiar all at once.
I had fought in the air before. I had trained with my father, Mark, Conner, Starfire, and others. But now that my Viltrumite abilities had awakened, the sky felt different. It did not feel like a place I was forcing myself to move through. It felt like a second ground beneath me, invisible but real.
My body knew how to balance now. It knew how to accelerate, and how to stop instinctually. I remembered everything dad taught me and it was working. It was still new sensation to get use to, but it was there.
Conner noticed it too.
He threw a punch toward my face. I slipped it by inches, rotated upside down in the air, and kicked him in the shoulder. He spun from the hit, recovered almost instantly, and fired back with a burst of speed that carried him straight into me.
His fist hit my guard, and the impact still drove me through the air. I caught his arm and sent tactile force through the point of contact, not enough to hurt him badly, but enough to disrupt his balance. His red aura flared. Mine answered with gold.
For half a second, the two fields pressed against each other. A low vibration filled the simulated air.
Outside the room, the Titans watched in silence.
Kara stood near the railing, arms crossed tightly, eyes narrowed. Eve was beside her, leaning forward with open fascination.
Wally had stopped eating chips.
"That's new, I didn't know they could do that?" he muttered.
Donna watched with a serious expression. "They're testing each other's fields. The force their letting off is incredible."
Barbara's eyes stayed fixed on the fight. "But they're also still holding back too."
Wally nodded. "Yeah. Which is both comforting and terrifying. Just imagine if they actually cut loose."
Inside the simulation, Conner broke the stalemate first.
His eyes glowed red. I saw it coming and moved, but he tracked me.
Twin beams of heat vision lanced through the air.
I raised both hands and let my TTK flare outward, not as a shield exactly, but as a vibrating field that distorted the air in front of me. The beams hit the field, scattered slightly, then burned across my shoulder and side as I twisted away.
Heat bit into my skin. It wasn't enough to seriously injure me. But it was enough to piss me off. I looked down at the scorched line in my shirt.
"Really?"
Conner smiled. "What? You said serious."
"Fair. I'm just tired of people burning or destroying my clothes. Especially from my favorite brands that don't makes clothes anymore."
My fingers flexed.
I remembered what Conner told me before on how to do it. Tactile telekinesis could vibrate molecules, and with enough control I could make heat. I had practiced it but doing it perfectly was hard.
Before, it always felt like forcing my power through a keyhole. Now, with my Viltrumite body awake, everything felt smoother.
My eyes narrowed as golden energy shimmered around my eyes. The air in front of me began to distort. Heat gathered there and shot forward just missing Conner, it was red-gold, vibrating, hot, and slightly unstable.
Conner's eyebrows rose. "You finally used your TTK to create heat vision."
"Yeah," I said, surprised at how easily it came. "I'm kind of going with the flow, but it's starting to feel a lot easier."
"Good," Conner said.
His eyes glowed again. "But mine comes from my Kryptonian half, and I cant strengthen them with my TTK." The red light brightened.
He fired and I fired back. His heat vision met mine in midair.
The collision exploded between us, sending a burst of light and heated pressure across the field. The air shimmered. The grass below us blackened in a line where stray heat touched down.
I pushed harder and so did Conner.
For a moment, red and gold fought in the center, twisting around each other like two burning wires. Then both of us cut it off at the same time. The smoke drifted upward.
I cracked my neck. "Good. Now, what else can you do?"
Conner's smile turned sharp. "This." Then he disappeared from infront of me.
I froze for half a second, as my eyes swept the field.
But nothing. So I listened.
The wind moved through the grass. The mountains stood silent in the distance. My own heartbeat sounded loud in my ears.
Is he move so fast I didn't catch him?
Then a fist cracked across my jaw, and my head snapped sideways. I recovered midair and threw an elbow backward, but hit nothing.
Another strike slammed into my ribs.
Then a kick hit the back of my knee and forced me downward. I caught myself before hitting the ground, twisting in the air as another invisible strike clipped my shoulder.
Conner's voice came from nowhere. "Come on, Cai. If you don't get good I'm gonna feel bad for kicking your but. ."
I grunted as a punch hit my stomach. The blow pushed air from my lungs, but I grabbed at the space where his arm should have been. My fingers closed around nothing as he moved away.
"Oh," I said, wiping blood from the corner of my mouth. "So you can go invisible."
Another hit came from the left. This time I felt the pressure change just before contact.
I blocked it. I could tell that made Conner backed off again.
I floated in the air, breathing slowly.
I could not see him, but I could feel subtle disturbances. The shift in air pressure. The faint shift of his field when he moves close enough. My TTK sense wasn't perfect at range, but with my new power awake, my senses felt sharper than before.
But it's still not enough.
So I decided to cheat. I brought both hands together slowly. Golden TTK began gathering around my palms. The field vibrated, visibly rippling like heated glass. My hands looked like they were humming with condensed force.
From somewhere nearby, Conner said, "That looks new."
I grinned. "It is."
The energy grew brighter. "Let's see how you handle a nova blast to the face."
Then I clapped my hands together. The force exploded outward in every direction.
A golden shockwave tore through the air like a bomb going off. The grass flattened violently in a massive circle. Dust rose. The sound cracked across the field and slammed into the mountain slopes hard enough to send loose snow spilling down in the distance.
Outside the room, several Titans flinched.
Eve's eyes widened. "Okay, that was impressive. How did he do that?"
Kara stared, lips slightly parted.
Inside the simulation, a figure flickered into view as the invisibility broke. Conner hit the grass hard, rolling across the field before digging one hand into the ground to stop himself. His body slid several yards, tearing a trench through the earth before he came to rest on one knee.
I floated above him, hands still faintly glowing.
"Ready to call it here?"
Conner looked up. His hair was a mess. A thin line of blood ran from his lip.
He smiled. "Nope. We haven't gotten that serious yet."
I sighed. "Of course not."
Conner placed both hands against the ground. "Round two."
The earth beneath me exploded upward. Massive hands made of soil and stone burst from the ground, each one big enough to crush a car. They reached for me from every direction, fingers closing like living traps.
My eyes widened. "Oh shit."
I shot upward as the first hand snapped shut beneath me. Another rose in front of me. I twisted sideways, flying through the gap between two fingers as they slammed together. A third hand came from behind, and I spun, driving my fist through the palm.
Stone and soil burst apart as more hands rose.
Conner stood below, one hand still pressed against the ground, red aura pulsing over his body and into the terrain. His TTK was moving through contact with the earth, shaping it, pulling mass together, giving it motion.
He had gotten better. A lot better.
I flew through the giant hands over and over, weaving between them as they grabbed, swiped, and punched. One caught my ankle for half a second. I blasted heat through my hand and severed the fingers before it could pull me down.
Another stone fist slammed into my side and sent me spinning. I recovered and dove straight toward Conner.
The hands moved to intercept. I punched through one and kicked off another. Dropped low, nearly scraping against the ground, then shot upward right in front of him.
Conner met me there. Our hands caught each other, our fingers interlocked. The two of us strained against one another, forehead to forehead, our auras flaring around us. Translucent gold and red TTK aura's pulsed against each other, between our locked hands.
The ground beneath us cracked. "You've really been practicing," I said.
Conner gritted his teeth. "Every damn day."
He shoved forward.
I slid back an inch and then I pushed back.
He slid back two.
His smile grew. "Good."
We broke apart and started exchanging blows again. This time, our TTK powers mixed with every strike.
Conner punched, and a red construct-like force extended from his fist, adding range and impact. I slipped it and touched his forearm, sending a golden pulse through contact that disrupted his field for half a breath. He adapted instantly, rotating into a backhand that carried a wave of invisible pressure.
I blocked and redirected the force into the ground. The earth split under my feet.
I stepped in with Wing Chun trapping hands, trying to jam his arms and keep the fight close. Conner answered with raw pressure, forcing me back with a shoulder strike and a burst of TTK that acted almost like a repulsion field.
I used my own to stick to him. My hand touched his chest for one second, and I sent force sideways instead of backward. It shifted his balance, turning his body just enough for my hook to land clean across his face.
Conner took it and fired heat vision point-blank. I threw my head aside, but the beam grazed my cheek, burning a shallow line before my healing began to close it.
I answered with a fist strike to his ribs that exploded with golden force. He coughed once and slammed his knee into my stomach.
We both staggered back. Then we both grinned.
Outside the room, Barbara stepped closer to the glass, concern clear on her face.
"Are we going to stop them?"
Dick and Wally answered at the same time. "No."
Barbara looked at them sharply.
Wally lifted both hands. "Those two can handle those level of hits. Plus, they're still holding back."
Dick nodded, though his eyes never left the fight. "They need this."
Barbara's jaw tightened.
Wally's expression softened slightly. "They're letting off steam, Babs. Let them be."
Donna crossed her arms tighter. "I wouldn't mind going a few rounds with them."
Kara watched silently. Her blue eyes tracked every movement Caius made. Every hit he took made something in her chest tighten. Every time he hit back, something hot and electric stirred under her skin. She hated that too.
Eve noticed, but said nothing.
Inside the simulation, Conner landed the first truly heavy hit. He feinted low, drawing my guard down, then shot upward with a right hand reinforced by both Kryptonian strength and TTK.
The punch hit my jaw, and my world flashed white. I flew backward like a missile, crossing the field and smashing straight through the side of a mountain.
Rock exploded around me. I was punched through one layer, then another, before finally crashing deep into the mountain's interior. The ceiling cracked above me. Then the whole section collapsed. Stone buried me completely.
Outside the room, Eve winced. " Ouch. That looked painful."
Conner hovered near the broken mountain, his breathing hard. He looked at the collapsed rock pile. "Maybe I overdid it with that last one."
For a second, there was silence. Then golden light shone through the cracks. The rubble shook and Conner's grin returned.
The entire section exploded outward as I burst from the mountain, covered in dust, blood at the corner of my mouth, my shirt torn in half and eyes bright.
"Round three."
Conner laughed. "Hell yeah."
We collided in the air. Again. And again.
The spar escalated.
We moved faster and hit harder. A lot harder
We hit each other across the sky, shockwaves bursting with every collision. Conner drove me downward with a double-fisted hammer strike. I caught myself inches above the ground and launched upward into his stomach, carrying him higher. He elbowed my back. I twisted and kicked him away.
He fired heat vision.
I cut through it with a my own.
Then he vanished again.
This time I closed my eyes. Allowing myself to feel the air move and the pressure shift. I turned and caught his wrist before he struck.
Conner became visible, surprise flashing across his face. " Not bad."
I smirk. "I'm a fast learner."
I yanked him forward and headbutted him. He answered with one of his own.
Both of us reeled back.
Blood ran from my nose, while his lip was split. We hung in the air across from each other, breathing hard.
Then I felt it.
Our next exchange would be the last.
Conner felt it too.
His red aura radiated around his right fist. The air around it vibrated. His TTK condensed tightly, reinforcing his hand, forearm, and shoulder. His full Kryptonian strength gathered behind the strike, and his body angled forward like a living bullet.
I raised my own right fist.
Gold aura gathered around it, thicker and brighter than before. The energy vibrated around my knuckles, down my wrist, through my forearm. M fully Viltrumite and Amazon strength settled under it together. TTK wrapped everything together.
For a second, the whole field seemed to hold still.
Outside the room, Cyborg's eye widened. "Uh… This bad."
Dick's head turned slightly. "Vic?"
Cyborg stared at the readings. "They're about to go all out."
Everyone's eyes widened.
Inside the simulation, Conner smiled. "Ready?"
I smiled back. "Always."
We launched forward vanishing in blinding speed and reappeared. Both of us crossed the distance instantly. Into a perfect a perfect cross counter.
His fist hit me square in the face, and mine hit him.
The collision detonated.
A massive shockwave tore through the simulated, splitting the ground beneath us, and sending cracks racing across the mountains in the distance. The sky itself flickered as the simulation struggled to process the impact. The observation glass shook violently as cracks formed all over. The entire training floor trembled.
Outside, several Titans stumbled.
Wally grabbed the railing. "Okay, that one I felt."
Cyborg stared at the system readings, then sighed. "Yeah. I'm gonna need to upgrade this room now that we have a Kryptonian and a Viltrumite in here."
The simulation flickered. Then collapsed.
The grassy field vanished, replaced by the white walls of the training room.
Conner and I were both lying on the ground, several yards apart, breathing hard. My cheek was swollen. Blood dried under my nose. My ribs ached. My knuckles were split, though already healing. Conner looked just as bad, one eye bruising, shirt torn, chest rising and falling heavily.
For a moment, neither of us spoke.
Then I chuckled. Conner turned his head toward me.
"That was incredible," he said. "I've never been pushed that hard before."
"Same," I said, still catching my breath. "And I usually train with a power-dampening collar."
Conner stared up at the ceiling. "Maybe I should try that."
I snorted. "Careful. It sucks."
Conner chuckled "Good. Means it works."
He slowly sat up, wincing slightly. "And you're giving me pointers on that nova blast thing."
I pushed myself up onto one elbow. " Well it's a work in progress, but sure. Only if you teach me how to turn invisible."
Conner smiled. "Deal."
We stood slowly. My legs felt heavy, but stable. My body hurt, but it was a good kind of hurt. The kind that came from testing limits and finding out they had moved.
When the door opened, the Titans were waiting. Wally looked between us and shook his head.
"You two are insane."
Conner wiped blood from his lip. "You watched the whole thing."
"Duh, like I miss seeing something like that."
Donna walked up and looked me over. "You okay?"
"I'm fine. You should see the other guy." I smirked
She narrowed her eyes. "You look like you got hit by a train."
"Well to be fair Conner hits alot harder than a train."
Conner nodded. "Thank you."
Barbara approached too, her expression somewhere between relieved and irritated. "You both done letting of some steam?"
"For now," I said.
Kara stood farther back, arms crossed. She looked at me like she was trying very hard not to look at me. Her eyes still dragged over the blood, the torn shirt, the bruises already fading.
Eve stepped beside her and smiled at me. "That was one hell of a first day back."
I gave a tired smile. "Yeah. Titans always did welcome people violently back in the day."
Dick stood near the back, watching me carefully. When our eyes met, his expression shifted. He gave a small nod.
My stomach tightened. He did my favor for me. The spar had helped. It had burned off some pressure and let me breathe for a little while.
But that was over now, and the real weight was waiting.
Sometime later, I was alone in my room.
The ocean outside the window was dark now, the water reflecting pieces of moonlight and the distant lights from the coastline. The Tower had settled into evening noise. Footsteps in the hall. Low voices. Someone laughing faintly two floors down. The hum of systems running behind the walls.
It should have been comforting and maybe one day it would be. But not right now.
I sat at the desk in front of the window, freshly showered and dressed in a plain green shirt and sweatpants. Most of the bruises from the spar were gone already. My body was healing faster than I was used to. That just confirmed more that the Viltrumite part of me was awake.
But that wasn't what I was thinking about. On the desk sat a file. A physical one.
Dick had brought it to me about twenty minutes ago. He didn't say much. He just placed it down, looked at me, and said, "You don't have to read it tonight. And don't blame yourself."
Then he left.
Of course I had to read it tonight. I stared at the folder for a long time before touching it. My fingers hovered over the cover.
There were words printed on the label: Titans Tower Incident — Casualty Rport
My throat felt tight as I opened it.
The first few pages were summaries. Official language. Clean wording. Time stamps. Injury categories. Confirmed dead. Missing. Critical. Recovered. Cause of death.
I hated how sterile it was. People had died screaming, bleeding, crushed under rubble, or torn apart by someone we had once called a friend. And here it was in neat paragraphs.
I turned the page. There was a section broken into two categories. Victims killed directly by Invincible. And victims killed during structural collapse and high-speed collision path involving Caius Dawn.
My hand stopped. I stared at the second line until the words blurred.
High-speed collision path involving Caius Dawn.
I forced myself to continue. The first photo appeared. It was of Hotspot. Isaiah Crockett.
His picture showed him smiling, younger than I remembered. Confident. Fire in his hands, eyes bright with that energy young heroes always had.
I swallowed hard.
Next was Mirage. Miriam Delgado.
She was holographic specialist, illusion user, and stealth trainee. Her file showed a girl with brown hair, sharp eyes, and a smile that looked like she was always about to say something sarcastic.
My fingers tightened around the page.
Mark had used my body like a weapon and driven me through the Tower. I didn't remember hitting or seeing her or Isaiah. But they died in my path.
I turned the next page.
Bushido. Ryuko Orsono
A young swordsman. He always had a calm face. Strong posture. His costume in the photo was clean, tactical, and proud. He looked like someone who had trained his whole life to be the best, only to die in a hallway during someone else's war.
I closed my eyes as my breathing shook. And I opened them and kept going.
My eyes widen when I saw the name Jericho. Joseph Wilson.
His picture hurt more than I expected. Gentle eyes. Blonde hair. Quiet face. Someone who had already been through enough in life and still chose to help others. His father is a piece of shit and he deserved better.
I stared at his name again. I know at some point I will have to confront Deathstroke. I just hope the others don't get hurt in the process.
I whispered, "No…" as I keep reading, my hand trembled.
Next was Killowat. Charlie Watkins.
His file showed him in a training photo, grinning with electricity glowing around him. Another young hero. Another life cut short.
Again it's my fault. Not by choice, but I was the weapon.
The next file made my chest cave inward.
Zatara. Zachary Zatara.
His photo showed him in stage clothes, one hand raised like he was mid-trick, smiling like he knew he was going to impress everyone in the room.
He was Zatanna's cousin, the original Zatara nephew. He was a magic user and a kid.
I stopped reading as the paper blurred. Tears fell before I could stop them. One hit the page. Then another.
I covered my mouth with one hand, trying to keep quiet, but the sound that came out of me was broken anyway. "Damn it…"
My shoulders shook.
I looked at the names again.
Hotspot.
Mirage.
Bushido.
Jericho.
Killowat.
Zatara.
And others. Too many.
For five years, I had not known their names. I had carried guilt, but guilt without shape. Without faces. Without details.
Now the guilt had names. Faces. Families and lives.
I leaned over the desk, hands gripping the edge hard enough that the wood creaked.
"I'm sorry," I whispered. My voice cracked. "I'm so sorry."
The room stayed quiet around me. Outside, the ocean moved in the dark. I wiped my face, but more tears came. Anger mixed with grief until I couldn't tell where one ended and the other began.
"I swear," I said, voice shaking, "your deaths will mean something."
I looked at the file again. My vision blurred, but I forced myself to keep my eyes open.
"I swear it."
The Tower hummed around me, alive again after years of rebuilding. And in that room, alone with the names of the dead, I made a promise.
Not to the League. Titans. Not to Batman, Superman, or the world. But To them.
The ones who never got to come back. The ones whose names I would carry from now on forever. Their deaths would not be buried under reports.
They would mean something. And if the Viltrumite Empire came to Earth… I would make them understand exactly who protects this planet. And to fear the name Titans.