Days after Conor had been hospitalized, he had been released as none of his tests told the doctors he was injured or sick, so after being helped out by a nurse with a wheelchair, he stepped out into a familiar but somehow different world.
The strange feeling was only exacerbated by the sight of a TV in the window of an electronics store, where he saw, much to his confusion, a news story about a Lizard League attack on a bank outside of the city, along with a report about a missing superhero named Omni-Man.
"Omni-Man..?"
He said his eyes turning into slits.
His initial thought was that it was something to do with the show he remembers, but as soon as his thoughts turned to the other world, a burning pain suddenly cut across his brain.
It was like his memories of the past was shattered glass, and his brain was the tenderest of feet.
Conor struggled to his feet as he entered an alleyway, the pain going from a searing heat to a biting cold, and suddenly he felt hungry.
He grabbed a granola bar he had gotten from the hospital and began chewing, only for his face to turn somewhat green before he was forced to puke out what remained of the saliva-moistened crumbs in his mouth.
Continuing to hold his stomach as the hunger pangs grew worse by the second, suddenly his vision turned red and the world around him seemed to turn dark as if all light was snuffed out if not for the strange purple mist forming a trail further down the alley.
Hungrily following the dense purple mist, he turns a few corners and suddenly comes across a couple of thugs attempting to force the clothes off a woman who would be screaming if not for the makeshift gag in her mouth and the shiny bruise on her face.
Clearly, they had already taught her a lesson on what would happen, and at this point merely lay on her stomach and hoped they wouldn't just kill her afterwards, as a steady stream of tears.
In the corner of her eyes, she saw a pair of purple pupils with grey sclera staring not at her but at her attackers with a gaze that reminded her of predatory animals she would see on animal planet just before they were about to spring into action.
As one of the attackers was attempting to remove his belt, he noticed Conor standing there in a strangely dark shadow in the alley, something about the shadows surrounding him giving the man a terrible feeling in his gut, but despite this, he stepped forward with a bat in hand.
"Do you have a problem guy?"
He waved the bat in front of him in a bid to intimidate the shadowy figure of Conor, whose eyes finally left the girl and landed squarely on the eyes of the thug with the bat, who immediately took a few steps back as he felt like he was now being hunted.
"Y...Y...You better g...g...get out of her or we will f...f...fuck you up!"
The man stuttered, which finally got the attention of his companion, who was forcibly groping the poor girl through her ripped shirt.
He sighed as he removed his hand from her quivering and pale breast and was about to get up when he suddenly heard a rumbling growl that sent shivers down his spine and caused him to become soaked in a cold sweat.
"HHHHHHRRR!"
Purple steam flows into Conor's nostrils, causing his hunger to flare up and a raspy and loud growl to escape his lips.
Suddenly, before the thug with the bat could react, the shadows under him suddenly came to life, although with a distinct purple center and grabbed onto him even growing a third arm to keep him from screaming out and alerting those nearby.
The bat-wielding thug's eyes shook even as his pupils shrank as he felt a piercing pain in his chest as a purple shadow slowly punctured through his chest from the spot where his heart was.
The thug's weapon clattered uselessly to the ground as the thug lost the strength to hold it, and through the shadows gripping his face, blood began to spill through the cracks in the shadowy fingers.
The shadowy figure seemed to sink back into the thug's shadow, and it returned to normal, however, unlike before, the legs of the thug were wobbly, and he soon fell face-first as what was left of his blood fell onto the ground.
"S...Stay away, s...stay back, I will kill her, I swear it!"
The thug held a knife to the back of the woman's neck, the blade puncturing just enough to draw a single drop of blood.
He continued to back up from Conor while holding the woman hostage however, Conor's eyes never left the thugs.
"Hehehe... I'll be taking her with me too, a man has needs after all!"
The woman cringed as she felt the thug cup her ass but still unable to resist, she simply stood there and quietly accepted it.
Conor smiled, his teeth looked like serrated blades made of purple energy, which sent chills down both the thug and the woman's spine, but suddenly.
"Crack!"
A powerful strike with a bat hits the thug in the back of the head, stunning him and causing him to drop the knife.
"AAHHH!"
The thug roared out in pain as he crashed into a group of trash bags, some of which had sharp bits of metal and glass that sliced and pierced into his back and hands.
He looked up, and his eyes suddenly had a look of sheer and utter horror within them as he saw his recently deceased partner approaching him with the bat in his hand, still slick with the blood from the back of his head.
The thug's former partner had a large hole where his heart used to be, and, in its place, a new organ seemingly made of the purest shadows was forming in its place as if he was recovering from the damage that had killed him.
His eyes were hollow and seemed to only contain rage and hunger within them giving the thug a terrible premonition so with what strength he had he attempted to flee but as soon as he turned his head he felt a hand grab the back of his head and forcibly press him to the ground causing the bones in his face to shatter as well as a string of blood soaked teeth to fall out.
"AHHHHHHHHHHH!"
The woman screams out in panic and rushes out of the alleyway now that her life was no longer in direct danger, and it was no longer than a few seconds before her screaming got someone's attention.
She had someone with a phone call to the police and notified them of two thugs who were killed in the alley.
Soon, the cacophonous sound of sirens approached, and a few officers approached the clearly shaken woman, and, with a bit of coaxing, she agreed to lead them to the spot where the killings occurred.
However, once they arrived, not even a droplet of blood was left behind, no thugs, no weapons, no gore.
"B...But they were just here a not even a few minutes ago..."
The woman felt like her mind was leaving her and began to visibly become unstable, she was unaware of the pair of eyes slowly disappearing into the shadows.
Outside of Conor's apartment, the shadows swam, and soon Conor himself stepped out of the shadows, and, with jerky movements and a blank expression, he walked into his room and collapsed on the bed before the purple in his eyes returned to normal and he passed out.
William was doing crunches upside down while holding a pair of seven-hundred and fifty-pound dumbbells at the behest of War Woman, who had taken a renewed interest in training William along with a rather thankful Dark-Wing who incessantly offered to help him with any of his gadgetry needs.
With thick droplets of sweat pouring from his hair, he continued to do sit-ups and could actively feel the muscle fibers in his stomach and shoulders tearing and healing simultaneously.
The pain he felt only continued to increase as, every time he grew and adapted to the weight, War-Woman would add more with a sadistic smile on her face each time.
War-Woman could not help but lick her lips as she watched his abs quiver in pain and stress.
"If he were a few years older, I might consider mating with this boy, but alas... he is but a child at this point!"
Her thoughts moved to the rather large print his superhero suit did little to hide, and her face turned red.
But she was forced to come to her senses when the large door leading to the gym opened and Immortal stepped through with a stern gaze.
His expression softened somewhat when she saw War-Woman, and he approached and whispered something into her ear, causing her eyes to snap open in response.
Whatever he told her seemed important as the two left immediately afterwards, leaving William alone in the gym hanging by his ankles.
With a deep sigh, he let go of the weights, causing them to crash into the ground, and with a grunt, he shot up with great strength and unhooked his feet from the device meant to hold him upright.
"CRASH!"
He crashed into the floor, the impact knocking the air out of his lungs, which stunned him for a second.
After recovering from the lack of air, he walked up to the bench press and put one thousand on each side.
As he continued his workout, a blue mountain of a man was making his escape from a prison and eventually arrived at one of his hidden labs in which he made a new clone of himself which due to the fact that he clearly already had pre-existing damage the other clone was forced to take on the role of the helper much to his anger.
The two were working on a device that would help them in a heist, a handheld cannon in a futuristic, if not trashy, design that could at the very least concuss a Viltrumite which is what they were usually preparing for as Nolan effortlessly defeats them no matter what and they were sick of being unprepared for the strange alien.
Wielding the cannon, the main Mauler twin aimed into the distance towards an Omni-Man-shaped target in the distance and pulled the trigger.
"WHOOOOSH!"
The air around the gun was sucked into the weapon and a dense orb of condensed air and sound began to form.
The orb started out small, but within ten seconds, the orb was the size of the twins' heads while arcs of deadly lightning danced in the air.
Suddenly, the orb disappeared causing the twins to think there was an error but before they could do anything a light appeared in the distance and a powerful wave of concussive force swept past the twins.
"BOOOOM!"
The sound finally reached the twins, who stared in awe at the majesty of their creation, and the result of the sudden roar of the explosion caused their eardrums to erupt in a spray of blood.
They had suffered in this test, but they smiled nonetheless as they observed the weapon.
"It's time for payback, let's go twin!"
The main mauler tossed a hefty bag to the newer version, who could only do as he was told for now.
The two walked out of the lab, which seemed to be within an abandoned warehouse, and towards their target.