The Best Fuel

In the Grayson family dining room, Debbie set down the roast.

Nolan sat at the head of the table, calmly cutting his steak. Across from him, Mark poked at his mashed potatoes with chopsticks, distracted.

"Dad, what that black-haired man said..."

"Don't believe strangers." Nolan did not look up. "He's just trying to drive a wedge between us."

Debbie came out of the Kitchen carrying a salad. "What's wrong? Is the steak not good?"

"It's nothing." Nolan smiled at his wife. "Mark ran into a little trouble during a fight."

Mark stared at his father's face. Smart Atoms, his mother's genes, limitless potential... Those words pierced his mind like thorns.

"Dad, can you just tell me—"

The air suddenly became thick.

An invisible pressure surged in from every direction. The salad plate in Debbie's hands shattered with a crash. Mark felt as if his heart had been clenched tight, making it hard to breathe.

Nolan's pupils contracted.

He shot to his feet, sending his chair flying backward into the liquor cabinet and smashing it apart. His gaze locked onto the dining room entrance—Chu Hang leaned against the doorframe, hands in his pockets, looking as relaxed as a neighbor dropping by.

"Dinner looks good." Chu Hang swept his gaze over the table, then looked at Nolan with a slight curl of his lips. "Too bad I came at a bad time."

"How did you find this place?" Nolan asked in a low voice.

"Find you?" Chu Hang laughed. "Nolan Grayson—or should I call you Omni-Man? You've spent over twenty years on this planet. Did you think changing your name, marrying a wife, and having a son would hide the Viltrumite energy fluctuations coming off you?"

He looked at Mark, then at Debbie. "A family of three, living in perfect harmony."

Nolan