The restaurant table is quiet under the city lights. Mark & Amber are finally talking about next year like normal people. Then—.

Anissa: “Mark Grayson. Invincible. Come with me now or this woman dies.”

Anissa’s hand locks around Amber’s throat in one motion, fingers like iron bars. Amber’s eyes go wide. She can’t breathe.

“Did you hear me?”

Amber: “Mark—”

Mark: “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hey, hey, hey. Who are you?”

Anissa: “My name is Anissa, and I’m an agent of the Viltrum Empire. And if you think you can cross the space between us before I tear this woman’s head from her body, you’re welcome to try.”

Mark: “What do you want?”

Anissa: “To talk. Somewhere we can speak alone.”

Mark: “Okay. If you leave without hurting her or anyone else, I’ll meet you above us in the sky.”

Anissa: “Be quick. Otherwise, I will return here and everyone dies. Beginning with her.”

*She releases Amber & rockets upward. Mark suits up & meets her high above the city.

She lays out the 18% survival number, the climate collapse, the technology the Empire could bring. Mark refuses. Then the kaiju call comes.

Anissa: “I will accompany you. I wish to see how strong the son of Nolan is.”

Over the South Pacific the massive sea monster is already tearing into the cruise ship. Mark throws everything he has & barely slows it. Anissa watches for 3 seconds. Then she moves.

She becomes a white streak. She flies straight through the creature’s skull at full speed, the impact so violent that every drop of blood & brain matter shears clean off her body the instant she stops. The kaiju’s head explodes.

They haul the damaged ship to a nearby island. Anissa lands lightly, not even breathing hard.

Anissa: “All these humans would have died if I was not here. Viltrumite occupation would make events like this a thing of the past. Be the Viltrumite you’re supposed to be. Be your father’s son.”

Mark: “No! No. I’m not one of you. Maybe humanity’s not perfect… but we need to make our own decisions, even if they’re sometimes wrong.”

Anissa: “After argument and logic and all these saved lives, you still cannot see the truth?”

Mark: “I think you should go now.”

Anissa: “Remember that we started with reason.”

That is the last word she gives him. She vanishes. The uppercut lands before Mark’s eyes can track her. The shockwave ruptures the air. His body is launched into the upper atmosphere so hard the city lights below become a blur. Anissa is already waiting above him. She catches him by the throat mid-flight and drives him straight down through three skyscrapers in a single continuous dive. Glass, steel, and concrete explode outward in a vertical column of destruction. Every floor they punch through adds another bone-cracking impact. They hit the street hard enough to crater the pavement. Mark tries to rise. Anissa is already on him. She hits him with a short, precise combination—ribs, sternum, jaw—each strike landing with the weight of a freight train. Blood sprays from his mouth. She grabs him by the collar, rockets him back into the sky, then meets him at the apex with a downward elbow that folds him in half & sends him screaming into the ocean.

She follows him under the water, grabs him by the ankle, & slingshots him out again, slamming him through another building. Mark’s suit is shredded. Blood runs freely from his nose & mouth. He manages one desperate counter-punch. It connects. She doesn’t even turn her head. Her expression never changes.

Anissa: “You dare interrupt your education?”

Mark: “I was never a good student.”

She answers by driving her fist through his guard & into his midsection so hard the air leaves his lungs in a wet cough of blood. She follows him to the ground, plants her boot across his throat, & presses. The concrete under his head fractures. His hands claw at her ankle. She increases the pressure until his vision tunnels.

Anissa: “You have a mission. Assigned to you by your true people. You will complete it.”