Mark was still learning to balance the duality of being a superhero and having a normal life. Despite the cliché being in so many movies and comic books, it didn’t make it any easier to navigate. As he sat there with his girlfriend, Eve, Mark Grayson was enjoying their time together, what it felt like to be with someone who understood both sides of his life. That enjoyment was cut short however when his phone started buzzing, drawing his attention from the superpowered redhead.

“What’s wrong?” Eve asked. “It’s from William. There’s some dude attacking campus…he’s wearing a funny helmet or something and making people do all kinds of weird stuff” Mark explained. “What? Is this a superpowered weirdo or a normal one?” “William says he has some kind of powers” “If the guy’s not a big deal then I’m sure somebody else will handle him” Eve assured, eager to get back to kissing Mark. “It’ll just take a second…I can fly down there and toss him over to the cops and come back in five minutes” “Fine, fine, go save the day” Eve accepted with an understanding grin as she laid back down. “Back in a flash!” the 19 year old hero assured as he flew out his window and left toward the college in his Invincible suit.

Invincible arrived to see a strange type of mayhem on campus. Students were running around slapping each other or peeing their pants or randomly making out, all while the man from William’s picture stood on a short wall admiring the odd chaos. “Hey, the hell are you doing?” Mark questioned. “Ah, the great Invincible…happy to finally meet you” “I’m not here to sign autographs, buddy. I’m here to make you stop whatever it is you’re doing” “I can at least introduce myself; I’m Conundrum!” “Yikes. That’s a terrible villain name” Mark laughed, not in the least worried about the new baddie.

“I assure you, Invincible, you will remember it…you see, this helmet lets me amplify my powers to penetrate even the strongest minds. I could make Einstein prance around like RuPaul if I wanted” Conundrum gloated. “Right…come on, you’re out of here” Mark dismissed as he started to fly toward the underwhelming foe but suddenly fell to the ground. “Ah! What did you do?!” Invincible demanded to know as his head was suddenly a flurry of distracting images and voices, enough to prevent him from concentrating to fly. “Did you really think my whole plan was to pester a bunch of college kids? No, I wanted to get your attention. I wanted to play with the mighty Invincible and see how much it takes to prove just how vincible you are” Conundrum laid out with pride in his plan as his mind control abilities took hold of Mark further and immersed him an illusion so realistic that Mark would never question it.

The next thing Mark saw was what he quickly recognized as the Guardians headquarters. He looked around but didn’t see anyone, none of heroes he’d fought alongside or even Cecil. “The hell is going on?” Invincible questioned, having forgotten all about Conundrum and any reason to think he wasn’t actually where he looked to be. Suddenly, a familiar voice broke through the silence and Mark looked over to see Rex. “Rex, where is everybody?” “Don’t try to distract me, Mark! I can see you have the droid” “Droid? What droid…?” Mark questioned but looked down in his hand to see him holding the small, spherical robot. The device was part of a training exercise they’d used before, a play on ‘monkey in the middle’ that helped develop speed and strategy among the team.

“I guess I won then” Mark accepted with a half-smile. “Don’t get all cocky on me, man. You cheated!” “What? How did I cheat?” “I don’t know but you did! We all know you did” Rex doubled down. “Yes, it looks like you broke the rules, Mark” The Immortal chimed in, suddenly standing behind him. “Guys, I didn’t cheat! Really!” “Untruths have no place among the Guardians. Tell us how you cheated, Mark” Immortal replied as he grabbed Mark’s wrists and held his arms up over his head. “Immortal, what are you doing?!” Invincible questioned as he tried to jerk free, something he normally could’ve easily done, but couldn’t make a crack in the fellow hero’s hold this time.

“Yeah, you hold him, Immortal…I’ll help get him talking” Rex suggested as he walked closer and Mark writhed in the hold, his feet nearly a foot off the ground as he fought to get away but made no headway before Rex’s wiggling fingers descended into his open pits. “ReEEHEXxXhAHA!! NNooAOHAOH! GGEETTooOfFAOhA!!” Mark burst with reluctant, surprised laughter without even a second’s control over his reaction as Rex danced around in both armpits with enthusiasm. “I guess Invincible has a weakness after all!” Rexplode teased while Immortal’s stoic expression showed a hint of humor at the scene. “CCOoOHoMmMMEeoOoNN!! sSTTHhoOOPPTTiiCCkKLLIIiNnnGGmMMeE!!” “Tell us how you cheated then!” Rex fired back as his fingers became even meaner, dipping deeper into Mark’s exposed pits.

“AHAH!! IIiiDDiiIiDdnNNTT CChHEeEAHAAT!” Mark could barely get out, battling with his own boyish, robust laughter to plead his case. “Yeah right! How else did you win the game, huh? Are you magic now too?” Rex challenged without any hint of slowing down as he tickled Invincible’s pits right through his suit. Despite not being conscious of Conundrum’s puppeteering, Mark knew something was off if he didn’t have his powers. It didn’t make sense and no part of him had an answer as to how he allegedly cheated at the game but Rex and Immortal were convinced of his guilt for some reason and weren’t backing down.

“Tell us! Tell us how you cheated!” Rex demanded as he moved onto the ribs and lit them up with a flurry of pointed jabs and pokes and daggers between each of them, ramping Mark’s laughter up another notch. “AAHAHAH!! SSTtoHOHOOPP! TTHiiiSiIiSSaOhaCCRRAaAZZZYY!!” “I have seen madness, Mark, and I assure you, this is not it” Immortal added as he held him hostage for Rex, refusing to let him protect himself form the tickle interrogation. “Fine! I’ve been wanting to test out my new trick anyway! Say hello to sparkler fingers!” Rex announced as he used his explosive powers in a way Mark hadn’t seen before.

The 10 fingers terrorizing his ribs and sides suddenly had a new electric zing to them, Rex’s fingertips seemingly creating tiny fireworks that charged every stroke and wiggle across Mark’s body to tickle even more. “AhAHhAHANNoAohAOH!! WWHhAHATTIiISsTThHAHATT?!” “Sparkler fingers! I just told you” Rex answered with devious pride in his execution as he started focusing on Mark’s entire upper body, dominating his stomach, ribs, sides, and armpits with his pyrotechnic tickling.  “SSTThOoOHhoPOPP! AohAOhAGUUYyySsCCCOoHOOMmEEOOOONN!!” Mark shouted the best he could as he floundered in place, unable to fight back against either of them in such a rarely helpless position. Immortal wasn’t usually one for this kind of shenanigans but in the illusion, he was, seemingly on board for Rex to tickle Mark until he surrendered his cheating ways. Invincible recognized the strange nature of the reality he was in even if he didn’t know it wasn’t real and figured the only way to save himself from the tickle torture was to play their game.

“AHAOHOOAKOOKK!! IILLTTEeELLLYYOouUAhAH!!” “Nah, you can wait a second. I was just about to get your nipples” Rex decided as Immortal switched to using one hand to hold Mark’s arms and covered his mouth with his free hand, preventing him from giving them what they’d been asking for so Rex could tickle his nipples with his new ‘sparkler fingers’. “MMpHMHM!!” Mark argued with wide eyes but couldn’t avoid Rex hitting both nipples with his explosive tickling, making Invincible shriek into Immortal’s meaty hand and laugh with newfound desperation to break free. “Fuck yeah! His nipples are super ticklish!” Rex laughed as he wiggled across and teased Mark’s shallow chest with a playfully sadistic smile while Invincible howled with gagged laughter and jerked around with sensory overload.

“Ok, ok. Now you can tell us” Rex soon decided after being satisfied with his experiment, telling Immortal to let Mark talk. “Oh my God…that was terrible…I thought we were friends, guys” Mark questioned as he caught his breath. “We want to know how you cheated” Immortal reminded. “Maybe he wants more!” Rex suggested. “NO! No! I uhh, I stole some of Cecil’s new tech…it let me beat you guys” Mark lied the best he could, painfully aware of how vulnerable his pits, nipples, and the rest of him still was and how much it seemed Rex was itching to tickle him some more. “No wonder we lost!” Rex answered. “Alright, you can let me go now” Mark added but before either of them could answer, his reality changed again, the seamless, irrational way it did in dreams.

Suddenly he was flying, among the clouds above town like he had so many times. “Come on, Mark. You’ve gotta keep up with your old man” Omni Man called out, making Mark look ahead to see his dad flying yards in front of him, back in his red and white suit and with the same mustached smile as if nothing had happened, as if he hadn’t attacked the earth and nearly killed Mark. It was another reality warp of Conundrum’s making but the odd nature of the situation only kept Mark’s attention for a moment, a flash of a thought before he accepted the scenario as normal as anything.

“I didn’t know we were racing!” Mark answered. “You need to work on your speed” “I’m already fast!” “If you can catch me, you can have a reward…two actually” Nolan explained as he flew on his back and wiggled his meaty toes toward his son, making Mark realize his dad’s lack of footwear for the first time. Another sprinkle of a questioning thought gave Mark the slightest pause but the appetite for his dad’s bare feet quickly overpowered it, for some reason incredibly drawn to the bootless pair flying in front of him. He wanted them bad. He wasn’t in the right mind to question it but his mouth watered and butterflies of excitement fluttered in his stomach. “You’re on!” Mark called back before pushing himself to go faster, darting through the air after Omni Man.

Nolan was always faster, stronger, better. Viltrumites got more powerful with age. Mark knew that but he wanted to at least match his dad, even just for today. “I’ve seen commercial flights go faster than you” Omni Man teased as he made his advantage look effortless, zipping through clouds and gliding through the air while Mark did his best to beat him. Hints of his dad’s size 13s met his nose like exhaust from a plane, enticing him with notes of cheesy, mature goodness, better than any bakery smell in town. “I’m gonna catch you! You’ll see!” Invincible assured with youthful confidence as he pushed himself more until he was able to see the lines of Nolan’s pink soles and the way they wrinkled when he flew faster. “Maybe by Christmas you’ll get here” Omni Man taunted some more with a playful, fatherly jab, a contrast to the harsh, ruthless version of him Mark had come to know. It was another layer of the illusion he didn’t think to question.

Mark concentrated the best he could and zeroed in on his dad like a target as he flew faster and faster until he was able to tap Omni Man on the shoulder. “Look who it is! I knew you’d get here eventually” Nolan laughed. “I told you!” “Yes you did…and I told you you’d get a reward” the older man answered as he and Mark stopped flying and merely floated in place. Mark watched with adrenaline running through him as Nolan mimicked a seated position in the air and stuck his feet out toward his son. “They’re all yours” Omni Man made clear and Mark took the pair in his hands, admiring the thick soles and chunky toes, the overall hyper-masculinity of his dad’s heroic feet.

The context of the dynamic wasn’t known to Invincible. Mark had no recollection of liking his dad’s feet and especially had no memory of his dad knowing about anything like that. Nolan would never have teased his son with his feet or treat them as a prize for Mark to enjoy but this Nolan, Conundrum’s Nolan, was different. Mark buried his face in the powerhouse feet and breathed in every bit of stench baked into the smooth soles, audibly inhaling and exhaling like the smell was intoxicating. “Good boy…” Omni Man encouraged with a warm, deep voice as he watched Mark indulge. Once he could smell nothing but his dad’s unique flavor, he looked over the large soles like he didn’t know where to start, overwhelmed by good choices until he took the sides of the right foot in his hands and started snaking his tongue back and forth across the balls. Nolan smirked at his son’s intense affection and could feel the drool rolling down the rest of his foot until the breeze blew it away but it wasn’t long at all before Mark was diving into the other sole, this time drenching the creamy arch with his tongue.

“See what a little effort to reach your goals can get you?” Nolan pointed out. “Yes, sir” Mark answered like he couldn’t be bothered to come up for air as his attention fell to the plump toes of the left foot, like a personal buffet just for him. Once again, he had trouble choosing where to begin, equally intrigued by the smallest of Nolan’s delicious toes as the biggest. But the biggest won out and Mark went after it like he’d been dying to do just that as let his tongue go to work licking and slithering all over the salty flesh. Invincible let out a thoughtless moan as he started slurping down the rest of the toes and immediately blushed with a bit of embarrassment. “Don’t be embarrassed, son. Viltrumites know what they want” Nolan assured with an approving grin as he watched Mark worship his godly feet with obvious passion. However, that blissful exchange soon evaporated before Invincible knew what was happening.

Mark barely had time to blink once or twice before he found himself in a new location, another he recognized. The all-white room was lacking of personality like only Cecil’s headquarters at the Pentagon could. Invincible started to call out for Cecil but couldn’t do more than murmur, making him realize he couldn’t talk. A distressed look of curiosity came across his handsome face as he looked down as much as he could and saw several layers of some kind of tape wrapped around his mouth and underneath that, something like a bandana or rag had been tied around his mouth too, and as he tried to wiggle his tongue more, he swore it felt like something else was actually inside his mouth, something too big to swallow but that perfectly occupied the space between his cheeks like a ball of some sort.

“MHPhmMAphMPHM!!” Mark tried his best to shout as he looked around some more to see his mask was on a nearby table and that he was even more screwed than he thought. His upper half was secured in a straitjacket that was tied to the back of the chair he found himself in and his legs had been secured to extensions in front of him that left them in a horizontal V shape. Even his ankles were stuck, locked in metal stocks that connected to the leg extensions and as if he wasn’t defenseless enough, Mark quickly deduced even if his toes had been tied back to the stocks. Suddenly he wished he was back suffering Rex’s sparkler fingers.

“Good. You’re awake” Cecil greeted as he walked through the door, met with Mark’s frustrated eyes and a barrage of muffled outbursts. “We know that you’ve lost your powers after getting hit with that laser so I wouldn’t try the tough guy routine with me now” Cecil pointed out, referencing some event that Mark had no recollection of, just like cheating at the game earlier. “We don’t know if you’re depowered temporarily or permanently but while you’re more human, I want to take advantage of this opportunity and test out a theory” Cecil explained as Mark fumed behind the gags and fought his bondage. “I know your inner ear is a weakness and likely is to any other Viltrumite but I want to know what other vulnerabilities your kind has while you can’t throw me through a wall” Cecil continued while he punched into a keypad in his hand.

“MMpHmAMAPHMM!!” “You’re wasting your energy, kid. I know this may seem like an asshole thing to do to you but I have to act while we have the chance” Cecil added before hitting a final button and the door opened again, letting two men in white coats and masks join them while Invincible watched with anticipatory anxiety as each man pulled up a chair to his bare feet. “Give him your worst, fellas. We’re recording his body’s reaction to pick up how he reacts” Cecil laid out and Mark shot him a fiery look before a delicate teasing got his attention, forcing him to look down at the assistants. “MmPHAMMPHMM!!” “What’s wrong, Mark?” Cecil questioned as he watched the feathers flick and swish across the boy’s immobile feet and the computer registered his stress levels rising.

“MmpHmMPHM!!” Mark tried to argue between giggles leaking out behind the gag and raged in the straitjacket for an escape but got nowhere. Both feathers danced up and down the lengths of his taut, pink soles with direct focus, dusting back and forth with each trip along the trapped 11s. Cecil watched Mark with a smug silence, curious as to how the hero would do in such a situation and it looked like his hunch was proving to be right. Invincible bucked in the chair the very little that he could and fought the giggles being coaxed out of him but failed almost every time, already struggling just from the attention of two harmless feathers.

“Take it up a notch” Cecil soon instructed and the men followed suit, flipping the feathers around to hold the stiff ends between their fingers like pencils, putting Mark on further alert despite not being able to see what they were doing. The feathers returned to his wonderfully supple soles in unison, starting at the balls and tracing the lines of his handsome feet with patient attention to detail. “MMaPHAMMPHMMHM!!!” Mark squealed into the gag and his cheeks stressed against tape as the feathers manipulated him into hysterics, following the shallow lines of his plump soles like they were drawing over lines of a winding map.

“So Viltrumites are ticklish…I’ll be damned” Cecil concluded with a look of surprise and pride at his discovery, the announcement making Mark’s whole body tense up and his stomach fill with dread. He wanted nothing more than to hurl Cecil into space in that moment. “Alright, enough with the feathers. Move onto something else. I wanna see how much he can take” Cecil soon decided and Invincible looked on with newfound concern, fearful of what awaited him if the feathers were that terrible. “If you’re wondering why you might be more sensitive now than normal, that ball in your mouth reacts to saliva. It’s secreting a chemical that basically tells your nervous system to be more reactive. It can’t make you ticklish if you aren’t already but it sure as hell can make it worse” Cecil explained just before the assistants launched onto his captive feet with a more old-fashioned technique; fingers.

“MMPhAPHHPAOHOMPHMMMH!!!” Invincible exploded in the chair like a contained bomb once both men started using a more personal touch. This time they didn’t opt for the same approach; the one on the left used his nails to scurry along the sides of the soft sole and the one on the right scribbled across the arch and balls and heel with a controlled, continuous assault. Mark’s hair flew around and his whole body vibrated like he’d combust with roaring, desperate laughter booming behind the layers of tape and cloth keeping his reaction contained. The ball in his mouth adding to his torment had a pineapple flavor that coated his mouth and pretty soon that was all he could taste as the chemical dialed up his sensitivity and he went wild under the 20 fingers tickling his bare feet.

“I’m not one for compliments and I’m sure as hell not one for a man’s feet but yours are quite something, Mark…if hero work doesn’t work out, I’d suggest foot modeling or getting into the fetish world. I hear there’s big bucks in that” Cecil pointed out with a teasing bit of honesty that only stoked Mark’s rage more as both assistants worked Invincible into screaming laughter. His toes tried to curl or even wiggle but the ties were too strict, not tight and uncomfortable, but taut to prevent any kind of movement. Cecil noticed his toes trying to move as well, prompting him to point them out. “Don’t forget his toes. They even look ticklish” Cecil added like a direct push to Mark’s panic button before both assistants shifted their attention to just Invincible’s plush toes by grabbing wiry straw cleaners and running them between Mark’s juicy toes.

“MMAHAMMPHAMAMPHMMHM!!!” Mark screamed with wild eyes and shook his head around like he’d explode into a million pieces, no match for the simple cleaning tools brushing down the line of both tied toes like something from a nightmare personally crafted for him. And that’s exactly what it was; he just didn’t know it. Tears soon began to flow and he would’ve begged Cecil if he could talk, truly desperate to stop the tickling. The tiny bristles sawing in the delicate spaces of his bubbly toes had him ready to admit defeat but Cecil wasn’t satisfied yet, seemingly wanting more than Invincible utterly helpless and screaming with intense laughter and ready to pee in his suit.

“The readings aren’t there just yet; we can do more”  Cecil decided and Mark couldn’t believe his ears, horrified at the thought of his situation getting any worse. But just as he began to fear Cecil would finally break him, a surge of power ran through Mark Grayson’s body. Suddenly the powers that’d been stolen came back like a strike of lightning, allowing him to break free of the bondage in one sweeping outburst. He ripped the gags off his mouth and spit out the ball and looked down at Cecil like he’d rip him to pieces. “If this is the game you’re playing, Cecil, I’m sure there’s at least a couple spots on you I can tickle until you wish you wouldn’t have even thought about tickling me” Mark warned but before he could act, his entire surroundings changed again with the same strange mystery to it as before. With no idea how he got there or what was going on, Mark was back at the Guardians headquarters. But this time, he immediately saw he wasn’t alone.

Invincible’s eyes grew wide again, this time at the sight in front of him. He’d seen plenty of insane things since becoming a superhero but this may have taken the cake. Locked in bondage chairs not all that different from what he’d just been in, sat friends and enemies alike. There were no straitjackets this time but instead, their arms had been secured above their heads and their legs and feet were just as immobile as his had been, all without a shoe or sock for even a little protection.

From left to right sat his dad, Rexplode, William, Immortal, Bulletproof, Cecil, and even Conquest, all somehow neutralized and locked in place as the robots Cecil had created to take on supers tickled each of them to pieces. They had three robots a piece, one that stood behind each of them to tickle their armpits and sides and two more than were using their built-in tongues to tickle each of the 7 pairs of feet. Mark was speechless, stunned by the scene he’d found. How? Why? What could even have done this to all of them? But despite the impossibility, they were all there having their bare feet lickled and their upper bodies tickled on a loop.

A roar of muffled laughter and fiery, inaudible outbursts filled the training room as the same layers of gags had been applied to each of the helpless men. Mark could only assume the same pineapple nervous system balls were also at play, making every flick of the tongue on their soles and poke and prod tickle worse than normal. Omni Man was full of ticklish rage, hating every second of his emasculating situation but unable to fight the rolling laughter being forced out of him. Rex wasn’t doing any better, floundering as much as he could and threatening the robots behind his gag. William had always been seriously ticklish so Mark couldn’t imagine how hellacious this all was for him, especially with his sensitivity enhanced. He was surprised Immortal was even ticklish but his big, godly feet were fighting for an escape just the same. Bulletproof was proving weaker than his name suggested, similarly to how Invincible had before, as the robots kept him shrieking with laughter and jerking against his bonds.

Perhaps the two biggest surprises were Cecil and Conquest. Mark had never heard Cecil laugh, let alone pour laughter like he was now but the tongues and fingers dominated his lean body and mature feet to keep his dry laughter going without a moment’s break. Conquest, the Viltrumite he’d just beaten and had nearly been killed by, was fuming with a similar ticklish anger as Nolan, ready to rip the robots apart as their tongues slinked and flicked across his huge, wide feet and teased his solid upper body to no end.

Despite the surreal nature of the scenario, Mark couldn’t help but be drawn to the array of feet like he had been with Omni Man’s. Again, normal Mark didn’t have a thing for feet but in Conundrum’s illusion, he very much did. He knew his dad’s were killer but Rex’s immediately got his attention with some insane arches and peach balls and heels. William’s he’d of course seen before but they were just a supple and perfectly kept as the rest of him. Immortal’s had to be at least the same size as his dad’s and were just as imposing as Immortal himself with thick soles and confident, luscious toes. Bulletproof’s were a rich brownish-tan color on the bottom, a few shades lighter than the tops, and supremely smooth. Even Cecil’s weren’t bad and Conquest’s feet were just as larger than life as he was.

Mark wasn’t sure what to do as he watched the group laugh their heads off until Battle Beast appeared seemingly out of nowhere. “Battle Beast? The hell are you doing here??” “I’m here to give you a choice, Invincible. You can pick one of these pathetic weaklings to tickle or all of the robots turn on you” “What?? Seriously!? This is bullshit! Just let them go!” “Those are the rules, human…make your choice” Battle Beast laid out with a feather in his hand extended toward Invincible. “This is crazy!” “I think part of you wants to join in…make your selection now or face the robots yourself” Battle Beast instructed again and Mark reluctantly took the feather from him before staring at his options, each of them giving looks varying from ‘don’t you fucking dare’ to ‘Mark, help me!’.

His relationship with his dad was strained, he knew Rex would make it his mission to get revenge, he knew William would forgive him eventually, Immortal would hate him, Bulletproof wouldn’t talk to him after, Cecil would for sure hold it against him, and Conquest, well he did try to kill him not long ago at all. Perhaps he deserved to be humiliated. Mark decided on the man he had the least to lose with and possibly deserved it the most as he walked over to the old Viltrumite, feeling the heat of the daggers being stared into him above the gray mustache.

“Let me show you somewhere I recently learned was way more ticklish than I ever realized…” Invincible prefaced with a growing taste for sweet revenge as he slipped the feather between the middle of the left row of toes and started sawing back and forth, instantly rocketing Conquest’s laughter into a heavier uproar. “Sucks, doesn’t it?” Mark taunted as the tickle monster in him reared its head and Battle Beast watched him lean into the unique power he had in this moment, knowing that Invincible’s appetite for ticklish feet would likely spread to the rest of the men.

Nearly an hour later, Mark woke up in his room, startled by what he’d been experiencing. “Mark! Mark, it’s alright…you’re ok” Eve assured. “What happened??” “That nut from campus got in your head but I took care of him when I came looking for you. What did he do to you?” Eve questioned as Mark’s brain struggled to make sense of the illusion he’d been trapped in, getting flashes of images and sounds that didn’t form a full picture. “I don’t remember…it’s a blur” “I’m just glad you’re ok” Eve added as she hugged him, grateful Conundrum hadn’t had any lasting impact but Mark didn’t tell her the distinct flavors of William and Rex’s feet were still on his tongue. “I think I’m gonna go brush my teeth” “Why?” “No reason…just have a funny taste in my mouth.”