Ch. 10 Aftermath

Jay is walking the halls, making sure idiot kids don't do something stupid. His mood is slightly better after talking with Meri and learning about Jasmine.

Jay smiles genuinely for the first time in a while. "Guess it really is a small world" He murmurs to himself.

He is wearing his superhero suit under his clothes because they can get attacked at any moment and he doesn't want to have to deal with trying to hurriedly put the suit on while innocent people get slaughtered. He's wearing a navy blue long sleeved dress shirt that is tucked into his black dress pants. And he doesn't have a tie.

He greets some students here and there. Some teachers say hello. It's after school so most people are leaving or getting ready for clubs or sports.

Jay ends up walking by Mark and William's lockers. He doesn't see Mark but he sees William at his locker. "Hey William, where's Mark?"

The teenager turns around. "Huh? Oh, hey Mr. Grayson" He playfully mocks. "Mark is probably hanging out with Samantha Wilkins again"

Jay does a double take. "My brother. Mark. Grayson. Is hanging out with Samantha Wilkins? Are you sure were talking about the same people here?"

William shrugs and closes his locker. "I'm sure. Ever since, your guys's father has been in the hospital, Mark has been spending more a lot of time with her. I thought he would have told you?"

Jay shakes his head. "Not a word"

Jay knows he has been out of it and has been focusing on his hero work more. But he figures he would have heard some sort of gossip about it.

"Anyway. I've gotta thank you for helping him through this….. And for the lasagna, it was delicious" Jay thanks his brother's best friend.

"No problem. I enjoy cooking and I'm happy to help you guys out" William leans against his locker. His smile disappears and he looks at the ground. "Hey, Jay"

Jay looks at William and notices he is serious and called him by his first name. "What is it"

William looks at Jay with worry in his eye. "Mark has been acting… weird…. lately. Even before the alien invasion thing. Is he alright? He seems ok to me, but… I don't know"

Jay pats William on his shoulder three times. "Mark is fine. He is just working through some things on his own. I'm sure he will be back to our comic addict Mark soon enough"

"Thanks" William smiles. "Speak of the Devil" He looks down the hall and sees Mark at his locker.

Jay and William were about to walk up to him but stop when they notice someone beat them to it.

"I heard you took a few on the chin for me again" Amber says as she stops next to Mark.

Mark finishes putting his books in his locker and looks at Amber. "Oh….hey. Amber!….Uhhh, yeah~" He awkwardly says in a fluster. "But don't worry. I've got this amazing new strategy with dealing with Todd"

He tries to act cool. "I let him hit me. Until he gets bored. And goes home"

"Hmmmm~" Amber muses. "Nice. He'll never see it coming. Unfortunately, neither will your face"

Mark shrugs and closes his eyes. "Eh~. People always tell me I'm too pretty anyways. Haha" He lightly shackles at his own joke and closes his locker before walking away. "I gotta run. Catch you later?"

This leaves Amber kinda speechless as she watches Mark walk down the hall and exits the school. She walks to the entrance and sees Mark meet up with Samantha Wilkins and walk off somewhere together.

"Fuck Mark. The hell are you doing"

William and Amber both look at Jay with a weird expression.

Jay snaps out of his thoughts. "Oh, um" He clears his throat. "Ahem. I mean. Dang Mark. What the heck are you doing" He says trying to cover his tracks.

Faculty doesn't usually swear. And even when Jay changed his wording it still sounds weird.

——————

"Hiding in plain sight" Jay says under his breath. "It's a psychology thing" Jay begins walking away. "Way to fucking blow my cover Mark. At least it's with Eve"

Jay left William and Amber at the front of the school as he went to his car in the teacher's parking lot.

He thinks about what Cecil told him about the Guardian's death. Even the power was cut when the attack occurred. The actual power and the backup. The person that did this cut the cameras and the security systems. And forensics is just flat out stumped.

Forensics is finding blood, flesh, and bone in random places. Some nowhere even close to where the bodies were found.

Parts of Red Rush's skull were near the steps. The green gem of Green Ghost is shattered a fair distance away from where her face was plastered and nowhere near her body.

Darkwings blood and face bones were scattered across the floor like his brain was.

War Woman seemed to be the most intact corpse.

None of that helped Jay since he practically knew that already. But what he did find interesting was that Damian Darkblood was on the case.

Damian Darkblood is a demon detective who works for the Global Defense Agency.

Jay only met him once. And he wasn't a big fan of the demon. And he wonders how Donald felt about the demon when he was an Atheist.

Cecil also informed Jay of what Robot and himself discussed. Cecil told Jay about Robot's predicted number of casualties with and without Eternals help.

It was a difference from the 203 deaths with Eternal to 338 without Eternal. And Cecil still didn't sound pleased with the way things turned out.

Jay couldn't blame the guy. He himself was already trying to figure out a way to be more effective in killing the damned aliens.

Cecil also informed him that the aliens were called Flaxans and that Robot had already reverse engineered their language using recording from the battle.

And Robot also determined that the Flaxans left only because they grew old.

Jay would have slapped the shit out of the robot. What the fuck else could it have been if they shriveled up and died like that. Not to mention the rust on their weapons, armor, and tanks.

Cecil made a not so funny joke of evacuating the area and waiting for them to die of cancer.

Jay also pointed out the fact that they could die to our bacteria and viruses if needed. That seemed to give Cecil an idea, but the old man didn't like it.

Jay also noticed that Cecil avoided talking about Mark, or Invincible, with him. But Jay didn't really care. Cecil had always had a way of doing things so this wasn't anything new, like leaving out certain things.

Jay drives back to his house while he was thinking about these things again. He just drops his car off and gets ready to fly around the world to save lives again.

——————

Mark flew off back to the Pentagon with the old lady in his arms. He had to force himself not to look down at her broken and twisted limbs flail in the wind.

And once he gets to the Pentagon he takes the elevator down to the medical ward. He kicks open the double doors and enters into the main lobby. "Help! Anyone! I need help!" He shouts.

"Freeze" There was a single man in a black suit and sunglasses that draws his pistol on Mark. But 8 invisible soldiers uncloak themselves and hold various rifles and pistols at Mark.

"She needs a doctor!" Mark shouts.

Two nurses begin carrying over a floating stretcher. A doctor gets to Mark first though and scans the woman. "Give her to us"

Mark puts her on the floating stretcher and just stands there, covered in blood that isn't his own.

The doctor starts giving orders to the nurses to try and save the old woman's life as they push her down a long hallway. Leaving Mark to watcher her leave.

"He's clear" The soldiers only lower their weapons and recloak themselves once they identify who this guy is that stormed into the Pentagon.

Mark makes his way to his father's room and collapses to his knees. "How… how can you do this and make it look so easy?" Mark asks as he grabs Nolan's arm and rests his head on the sheets of the bed.

A few minutes later Debbie walks in and goes to her son and they hug eachother while Jay watches for a minute before walking away without Debbie or Mark knowing he was there.

——————

Mark still ended up going to school. Apparently his brother Jay was already there and hard at work making sure the students didn't get too rowdy.

Mark walked down the hall to his locker lost in his own thoughts. He didn't even notice the people he was bumping into. He was only snapped out of his thoughts when William stood in front of him and called his name.

"Mark!" William calls out. Then he gets worried and it shows on his face. "Wow. Are you ok?"

Mark was barely holding it together at the moment. But he started sorting things out. He looked at William but couldn't look him kn the eyes so he looked to the side. "My dad… he… got attacked"

"What?!" William couldn't believe this. He takes a step closer. "You're kidding"

Mark looks at William and then looks away again.

Williams shoulders droop down. "Oh god, you aren't. I-I-Is he ok? What happened?"

Mark looks down at his shoes and responds in a monotone voice. "He's in the hospital they're doin uh…." He looks to the side before looking at William in the eyes. "They're doin they're best but, it's-it's messed up William. He's really hurt"

"Jesus Mark. I'm so sorry. D-Did they catch who did it?" William asks.

Mark looks down at the blue tiled floor. "No. Not yet" He looks back at his best friend.

"Speaking of someone who's been attacked in this stupid city, I'm here for you. Whatever you need. You wanna talk? I'll listen. You, Jay, and Debbie need a lasagna? I make a good one. Actually. I make a great one" William brings the mood up.

Mark smiles slightly as he listens to William be there for him like a true bro. But then he notices something out of the corner of his eyes. He looks over at a girl near the lockers. "Eve Wilkins" He mutters under his breath.

William turns to look at where Mark is staring at. "What? U-uhm yeah. That's her"

Mark doesn't look away from the orange haired girl. "I need to talk to her"

William looks at Mark. "Hah! You and all the other straight boys in a 10 mile radius. Good luck with that. And didn't you just get your ass kicked last week for Amber Bennet?" But by the time William finished talking Mark was already approaching the girl.

"Eve?" Mark calls out as he walks up to her.

The girls Eve was talking to said goodbye and left her to talk with this punching bag that actually stood up to Todd recently.

"Hi, uhm" Mark says.

Eve is holding a textbook to her stomach and motions at him. "Oh hey, Mmmark. Right?"

"Grayson" Mark puts his right hand on the back of his head. "Yeah. Uhm. Thanks for saving my butt back there" he says as he slightly leans forwards.

When Eve looks at him like an idiot he drops his hands to his sides. "E-earlier today. I mean"

Eve then gets a look of realization when she looks at Mark. "Earlier today? Oh. Oooohhhhhh" She raises an eyebrow. "That was YOU~. In the blue and the yellow"

Mark chuckles. "Haha. Yeah. That was me" He admits. He scans his surroundings before whispering. "I'm..uh… Invincible" He whispers.

"God. That. Sounds. Dumb when I, say it like that" He admits and looks to the side.

"Sounds a little optimistic, maybe" Then she leans in and whispers her own secret hero name. "I'm Atom Eve. But the rest of the team just calls me Eve. So does everyone else"

Mark nods slightly. "Right. Since it's kind of a normal name and not something like…."

"Invincible~" Eve finishes.

Mark closes his eyes. "Invincible. Yeah…"

"Do you wanna talk about yesterday?" She takes a step forwards. "You look like you need to talk about yesterday" She reaches her right hand out and pushes Marks shoulder to turn him and they begin walking down the hall.

——————

Mark and Eve are sitting up on the edge of the roof of the school overlooking the football field and the city far in the distance.

Mark sits with his elbows on his knees and his back leaning forward while Eve leans back while her hands support her.

"I never recognized you before" Mark admits.

"No one does! It's a psychology thing" She sits up and looks at the cloudy blue sky. "If you don't expect to see a superhero in your school. You don't see a superhero in your school"

"Hmm. Maybe Jayden is right…" Mark muses.

"What was that?" Eve asks.

Mark escapes his thoughts. "Oh, nothing. Just that… I even follow Teen Team on Instagram"

"That's us~. Everyone's 4th favorite superhero team" Eve jokes.

Mark smiles and looks at Eve. "I like you guys way better than Fight Force"

Eve raises a brow and smirks. She even gestures with her right hand. "Oh! We're definitely better than Fight Force. Those guys are the worst. They got their asses kicked by the Lizard League last year"

"Ohh~. I remember seeing that on TV. Eternal had to go and save them" Mark remembers and adds.

"So. You're new to this right?" Eve asks, thinking that the ice has been broken enough.

Mark looks at his palms. "Uhhh. I just got my powers. That was my first big fight"

"Ahhhh" Eve understands now. "Ok. Explains a lot" She puts her hand on Mark's shoulder. "Still! Not bad for a rookie"

Mark moves his left hand for emphasis. "Are you kidding? I froze out there! People got hurt!" He frustratedly looks at the field down below them.

"People ESCAPED because of you" Eve reassures him. She looks ahead but looks at him through the side of her eye. "And everyone freezes their first time. I used to throw up every time before a fight. Barf my guts out"

Mark smiles and looks at the orange haired teen beside him. "Heh, really?"

Eve looks him dead in the eyes. "Like a fire hydrant. You'll get used to it" She leans in closer. "The fights. Not the barfing"

"Ahhh~" Mark sighs. He thinks about his brother. How he acted like it was the easiest thing in the world his first time. How he would talk about it like it was the best thing in the world.

But Mark didn't know that Jay was just putting on a mask for him and Debbie. Jay freaked out a bit the first time he was in a battle. Much more than the first time he killed someone. It was a whole different feeling. Especially since Jay was dealing with the lack of empathy to those he saved. He even visited those he saved in the hospital, and Mark remembers wanting to do that when he was younger. And now he remembers the old woman he saved and wonders if she's doing alright.

Mark looks back at his hands. "I just… Ot wasn't what I expected. I figured I'd punch some aliens~, they'd go home"

"Not how it looks on tv" Eve states.

"No shit" Mark comments and rubs the back of his neck and shoulder. "Thanks"

Eve holds out her hand. "I charge 250 an hour" She then stands up.

Mark looks at her confused.

Eve looks down at him and smiles. She then leans over and puts the back of her hand to the side of her mouth. "NOW I'm kidding" She stands back up and moves some strands of hair behind her ear. "You are new to this"

Eve turns around and squats to pick her backpack up.

Mark shamelessly watches before standing up himself.

Eve walks back up to Mark with her hands holding the straps of her backpack. "Why don't you come by and meet the team after school?"

"Teen Team?!" Mark abruptly says. He looks up and to the side. "Iiiiiii don't know. I heard they were only everyone's 4th favorite"

Eve sighs and begins walking away. "Meet me at the front after class. INVINCIBLE~" She teases as she jumps off the roof but uses her powers to softly land on the ground.

Mark smiles and waves her off. He looks up at the city in the distance as he ponders over Eve's words.

——————

Mark didn't end up going with Eve to Teen Teams base since Eve had something come up at home. She said not to worry about it, but Mark saw something in her face that contradicted what she said.

He knew that something happened. But he left it as is since he only talked to her twice. Once if you don't want to count their superhero encounter. Which agreeably wasn't even a conversation.

Mark had barely seen Jay. And when he did it was late at night. He didn't know whether to be sad…. or proud.

Jay had been juggling everything since the Guardians died. His counselor job. His hero job. His family, barely. And trying to meet with Suzu.

Which apparently they were dating now!

Somehow Mark missed that bit of information.

Mark knew Jay was busy dealing with threats while Cecil sorts out the Guardians of the Globe mess, but he still wanted his brother to be with him, their mom, and their dad. And when Jay was there, it was like he was distant for some reason. Like he was letting Mark have Debbie's full attention when it wasn't on Nolan.

Mark wasn't sure how to deal with all that's going on. But luckily on the third day since the alien invasion Eve was free to take him to the Teen Team's base.

Mark just finished the last class for the day and heads to his locker. He talks with Amber for a minute before exiting the school to meet up with Amber.

He walks up to the orange haired teen.

"Ready?" She asks.

Mark nods and smiles as they walk off the school grounds.

"So, do you think they'll like me?" Mark asks.

Eve looks at him. "Don't worry, they'll love you" She jokes.

"Thanks" Mark looks at the students around them. "I'm serious though. I've been following the superhero's my age for a while. And seeing them do all these big achievements. Hoping that I can get my powers and do stuff like they would. And at the stop of that list was Teen Team for a while you know. So I kinda wanna make a good impression" He awkwardly says.

Eve pats him on the back. "Just be yourself, Mark Grayson, and you'll fit right in"

Mark sighs. "But that's the part that worries me" He says under his breath.

"You act like you knew your powers were going to appear. Is it a family thing?" Eve asks in a quiet tone.

Marks eyes widen. "Huh? N- Why would you say that? I jus… I mean-"

"I'm just messing with you again. You don't need to take it so seriously. And even if it is…." Eve thinks about Jay Grayson, their hot counselor that a tone of her 'friends' have a crush on. "Hiding in plain sight"

"What?" Mark asks, pretending to be oblivious.

"It's nothing" Eve shakes her head, which causes her hair to bounce.

——————

Atom Eve and Invincible are up in the sky.

Eve looks back at Mark. "Try to keep up"

She then takes off towards the city with Mark following her.

Eve shows her ability to move between the skyscrapers and buildings as Mark attempts to keep up with her. He loses her after they round a corner and he ends up crashing through a billboard and falling to a roof.

Eve appears on the roof once Mark pulls himself up from the ledge. "Haha, alright. Let's try that again" She then takes off with Mark following behind her with a smile on his face. She's glad that she is able to help Mark forget about all the bad moments going on in his life for a while.

Mark catches up to Eve and she glances at him as they begin to leave the city and fly over the water. "Follow me"

Eve flies under a bridge and taps the water before shooting up and landing on one of the bridges supports. She looks up at Mark as she stands with her arms behind her back and her left hand holding her right elbow.

Mark flies under the bridge and doesnt tap the water as he flies up the support of the bridge. He lands gently after a backflip. He didn't practice his landings without a purpose after all.

Mark walks over to Eve and clears his throat. "Eheh. Now what?"

Just as he asks that, the support beam beneath them shakes. A circle opens up and they both fall down.

"Wha-? Wow!" Mark exclaims as the floor beneath his feet literally falls from under him.

They both fall into a room. Eve uses her powers to stop herself and mark does another flip before he lands.

Mark looks around as he hears a ping pong ball get hit a few times. The area around them was massive. Like the bridge support beam was completely hollowed out. "Cool"

Eve walks forwards towards her teammates and boyfriend.

There were 3 of Duplicate-Kate playing ping pong with Rex Splode while Robot stood between a few monitors and a machine. "Hah!" Rex shouts and hits the ball.

"Babe" Rex opens his arms and walks towards Eve.

Rex and Eve proceed to make out for a solid 10 seconds. Mark awkwardly looks at an interesting metal beam that suddenly caught his attention.

"Oh hey!" Rex says as he stops kissing Eve and turns to Mark. "It's the Ice-Man~"

Eve leans against Rex's chest. "Rex!" She reprimands him. She told him to play nice before Mark shows up. She knows how jealous Rex can be.

"Couldn't have won that fight without yuh. Oh! Except we did!" Rex then turns around and walks away.

"They got old…." Dupli-Kate 1 points out.

"….And ran away….." Dupli-Kate 2 adds.

"…..AND Eternal helped as well" Dupli-Kate 3 finishes.

"Still counts" Rex says satisfied with himself.

Robot looks over at the teens and the new teen arrival. "Welcome Invincible" He greets. "My name is Robot. Apologies for Rex Splode. He's-"

"Unbelievable awesome" Rex finishes.

Robot looks at Rex. "Incorrigible"

Eve steps forward with her arms crossed. "And rude~" She playfully adds.

"Aaaand bored of this" Rex raises his right hand and drops it signifying he doesn't like this talk.

"So like, did you have your mask on the entire time you were here? Or do you always just have it on? Or are you the only one that doesn't show their face on the team?" Mark asks.

"Hey!" Rex points at Mark. "You have yours on too!"

Mark points at his goggles. "Yeah, but I just showed up and these help keep the wind out of my eyes"

"Whatever!" Rex Splode puts his arm around Eve and walks a few steps away.

The Duplicate-Kates surround Mark. """I'm Dupli-Kate""" All three say at once.

"I'm Invincible" He greets and smiles. He looks between the three of them. "Which one of you do I look at when we talk?"

Eve turns to Robot. "Hey Robot! Find anything new?"

Everyone turns to the bronze machine who is looking at two double helixes. On is spinning much faster than the other. It's a comparison between the Flaxans and Humans. The Flaxans is spinning much faster.

"The Flaxans come from a dimension with a faster temporal rate. As a result…" Robot walks towards the group. "… the tachyons they emit spin more rapidly than our own"

Robot then motions to a device behind them. "I've created this detector to warn us if they return"

"Ohhhh! Because we almost missed all the explosions and the screaming.." Rex pops a small ball that he gently makes explode between his fingers. "..and the chaos"

Everyone looks at Rex Splode.

Robot isn't amused. "It SHOULD give us a few minutes of early warning" The machine then turns to Mark. "Cecil and the GDA have also requested to call upon us in emergencies. Since the Guardians are apparently….indisposed. Invincible, may we count on you in the future?"

"You sure you want my help?" Mark asks.

It's dead silent as Mark looks at Robot and Robot doesn't move or respond.

Mark shrugs and raises his hands out at his sides slightly, his tune totally different than a few seconds ago. "Yeah! I mean, of course"He then points at Robot with Eve behind him before dropping his hand. "Text me I guess" He then smiles. "Oh right, you need my number"

——————

Mark is next to his dad that has healed decently. He grabs a damp towel and puts it on Nolan's forehead. "I know you don't like teams much. But, they were all pretty cool" Mark adjusts the towel on his dads head. "Except for Rex Splode" Mark then leans back in his chair. "I do not know what that guy's problem is"

Debbie walks into the room but doesn't say anything yet.

"I think he and Eve are a thing~. Maybe~?" Mark says.

Debbie walks behind her son and sets her bag down on the nightstand next to the bed. "Who's Eve?" She asks.

Mark flinches slightly at the sudden appearance of his mom and the question. "Oh, uhm, no one" He answers with a serious tone. "J-just a friend" Mark answers then looks down at the tiles beneath his feet.

"Mhmmmm~" Debbie acknowledges. Then she turns around. "Did you find the dinners in the refrigerator?" She looks at her sons sad expression and worries.

"Yeah…. Thanks mom" He quietly says.

"Oh Mark" She goes and hugs her youngest son. "I'm sorry. I've been so focused on your dad that I've practically forgotten about you" She kneels down and moves back to look at her handsome boy. She places her right hand on his shoulder and holds his face with her left hand. "Are you ok? Donald said you saved a lot of lives" She lets Mark go and waits for his answer.

Mark looks at his mom. "Yeah. It was just… uhm…" He looks away from Debbie and at a wall to the side. "…. harder than I thought. Dad and Jay didn't talk about this part of being a superhero" Mark smiles and looks at his dads face.

"Your dad and brother are good at a lot of things" Debbie turns to her husband but looks at Mark out of the corner of her eyes. "But talking about their feelings isn't one of them"

Debbie turns to Mark and places a hand over her heart. "But we can talk"

Mark looks at his mom and smiles.

Jay was listening to them from just outside the open door. He smiles and walks away.

As Jay walks down the hall his smile fades into a neutral expression.

A nurse hastily exits a room from behind Jay. "Wait!"

Jay turns around. He spits the blond nurse. "Are you talking to me?"

The nurse smiles brightly. "Yes! I'd recognize you anywhere! Can I have a photo?"

Jay puts on his usual smile. "Sure, but isn't it unprofessional?"

The blond nurse looks young. Like skipped medical school and went straight to work here after highschool young. But Jay is basing this off just her height, voice, and general information. She has her face covered by a mask.

Jay looks closer at her. She has short blond hair, blue eyes. Stands around…. 5'4 if Jay had to guess. And reminds him of two people.

"I feel like I know you. Have we met before?" Jay asks as he walks up to her.

The young woman takes her mask off to reveal a big and bright smile. "I wouldn't be surprised if you forgot me. You saved me a long time ago"

Jay sees her full face and is sure of it. This is the girl he saved years ago. And the s-

"My names Jasmine! I was hoping to meet you again! I'm like, one of your biggest fans! My sister will freak out when I tell you I finally met you again!" She pulls out her phone and wraps her arm around Jay's side to take a selfie. "Say~…."

ETERNAL