Inevitable Chapter 10

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Mark stood in the hallway of a hospital, hands stuffed in his pants pockets, eyes fixed on the room ahead. Behind the glass, an elderly woman lay in bed still, quiet, and fragile.

The woman he had tried to save.

The woman he had hurt.

He stepped inside.

She looked better than she had the first time he saw her. Less pale. Breathing steady. No more machines hissing and beeping in a frantic chorus. Just a soft, rhythmic monitor. A doctor stood beside her, checking on her vitals.

"Is… is she okay?" Mark asked.

The doctor glanced up, offering a tired but calm nod. "Her name is Maya," he said. "And she's stable for now."

Mark hesitated, then stepped closer. "Doesn't she have any family?"

"We contacted them, yes. But this is a secure facility," the doctor replied. "And she's not strong enough to be moved to a regular hospital."

Mark looked at her small and quiet form again. A small bruise still shadowed her temple.

"But she'll be okay, right?" he asked, voice low.

The doctor exhaled. "It's still too early to say considering her age. But I hope so."

He gave Mark a pat on the shoulder and quietly stepped out of the room.

Mark stayed behind a little longer.

He stared at the monitor. At the slow rise and fall of Maya's chest. At the hand that reached for help, too slow, too late.

The beeping kept time with his guilt.

______

Mark, William, and Naruto sat at a table in the school cafeteria, the scent of overcooked meat and questionable gravy hanging in the air like a curse.

Mark threw up his hands. "William, we're just friends!"

William sighed and stabbed a limp meatball with his fork, holding it like a gavel. "Will you stop saying that? It's like you're trying to jinx yourself out of ever dating Eve."

Mark pointed a finger. "You literally said I had no chance with her."

"That was before the entire school saw you leave with her and Naruto yesterday."

Mark's eyes narrowed. "Everyone saw that?"

William nodded. "Yup. Was trending on Snap for, like, two whole hours."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Doesn't she already have a boyfriend?"

"Exactly!" Mark said, like it was the final word.

William shrugged. "So? Be cooler than him and steal her heart. That's how dating works."

"Honestly? That wouldn't be hard," Naruto said with a smirk, clearly remembering some of Rexsplode's less-than-heroic moments. "But then again…" 

Mark had just as many if not more moments.

"Why are you so intimidated by her?" William asked.

Naruto leaned back. "Oh, I've got a million theories."

Mark tuned them out. Across the room, Eve glanced at her phone, face tightening. Without a word, she got up and bolted out of the cafeteria.

Mark stood up. "Uhh, thanks for the therapy session, guys, but didn't we have to go do that thing… at that place… with the stuff?"

Naruto blinked. "What?"

Mark patted his shoulder. "Just come on." He nodded toward the door.

Naruto followed his gaze and spotted Eve leaving. "Ohhh. That thing. Yeah. Super urgent."

William watched them go, deadpan. "Of course, no one tells me anything."

"Sorry, last minute emergency," Naruto muttered as he stood.

"Right. Sure. You're just going somewhere to sulk and be mysterious." William scoffed, then started scooping leftovers off Mark's tray. "Waste not."

As soon as they were gone, Amber slid into the seat beside William.

"Is Mark dating Eve Wilkins?" she asked, eyes sharp and curious.

William groaned. "God, I wish."

Amber frowned. He sat up straight.

"Wait, no. Definitely not. She's got a boyfriend. And Mark is very available. You want his number? I can write it down for you."

He pulled a pen and notepad out of absolutely nowhere.

Amber just stared before leaving.

____

Wind howled in their ears as the trio soared through the sky.

Eve leading the charge, Invincible close behind, with Naruto trailing just above them, his suit flaring like a banner in the sun.

They touched down hard on the roof of a high-rise just as the morning haze started to burn off the city skyline. The concrete trembled under their impact, dust curling at their feet.

Rexsplode was already waiting, arms crossed, stance wide. His jaw twitched as he looked them over.

"Well, well, well. Where are you guys coming from?" he asked, voice tight with suspicion.

Eve blinked. "Uh… we go to the same high school, Rex."

Rex squinted. "Oh, you do, don't ya?"

"Pretty sure we do," Mark added quickly.

"Yup," Naruto chimed in, stretching his arms. "Math class. Real wild stuff."

Rex's eye twitched. "MUST. BE. NICE."

He stepped forward, jabbing a thumb into his chest. "You know who never got to go to high school?"

Mark opened his mouth, but Rex didn't give him the chance.

"Me."

Naruto, deadpan, mirrored him. "Me."

Rex snapped toward him. "Don't steal my trauma, Maelstrom."

Naruto raised a brow. "You can have it. Trust me."

Rex scoffed. "First time I hear the word 'school' and I'm getting judged by people who probably took Home Ec."

Eve rolled her eyes. "We know, Rex. It shows."

He turned to say something else, but Robot's monotone cut through the air like a blade. "I'd appreciate everyone's attention on the matter at hand."

At the far edge of the rooftop, Robot and Dupli-Kate stood scanning the horizon. Kate was mid-stretch, cracking her knuckles.

"Guess who's back?" she said, gesturing with a nod.

Across the cityscape, space cracked open in a violent shimmer. A tear in the sky split wide above the skyline. From it marched the Flaxans with armor glinting, rifles glowing, and boots pounding in thunderous, terrifying unison.

They fanned out with mechanical precision, stepping through the portal in rows of six, weapons already raised. Within seconds, the screams started. Bright bolts of plasma lit the streets below like strobes, carving through cars, walls, bodies. People scattered in all directions. Smoke and fire surged upward like the city itself was exhaling death.

Rex's eyes widened. "You gotta be kidding me. They're not aging. WHY AREN'T THEY GETTING OLD?"

Robot's fingers danced across his wrist-mounted interface. "They've likely developed a way to resist our temporal flow."

"In THREE FUCKING DAYS?!" Rex shouted, holding up three fingers like they were cursed.

"For us," Robot corrected, "but for them, it may have been three decades."

Dupli-Kate rolled her eyes. "So what? I bet their bones still break. Plus we have Maelstrom."

With that, she leapt off the rooftop, her body splitting mid-air into four identical duplicates. All hit the ground running.

Robot climbed onto his hover-cruiser and angled it downward toward the chaos. 

"So do ours," Rex said plainly.

Rex sighed and jumped on behind him. "You know how to kill the mood, Robot."

On the rooftop, Naruto's gaze drifted toward the smoke. His expression darkened, not afraid, just… tired. Another war. Another battlefield. And somehow, it always came back to this.

He looked to Mark. "Ready for this?"

Mark nodded, jaw set. "Yeah. I think so."

Eve smiled gently. "We've got this, Mark. Don't worry."

Naruto gave a small, distant smile, one that didn't quite reach his eyes. "Don't fall behind."

The three of them launched off the rooftop in a burst of color. 

Eve trailing pink light like comet fire, Mark cutting through the air in yellow and blue, and Naruto a blur of black and orange, the wind crackling around him like it was alive.

Below, the city screamed.

And the Teen Team dove straight into the storm.

The moment Mark, Eve, and Naruto touched down on the side of the building, the sky lit up with fire.

Blasts of green-hot plasma tore through the air, tracing their path with lethal precision. The trio weaved between them with practiced instinct.

Eve sliding along a glowing ramp of her own making, Mark punching through a volley mid-air, and Naruto flipping into a tight spiral, the beam streaking past his cheek harmlessly.

From the street below, a Flaxan commander barked out in its guttural tongue.

"Odop urea!"

At the command, several soldiers rushed forward with a large metallic case. It hissed and unfolded with mechanized limbs springing out as it transformed into a mounted plasma cannon the size of a motorcycle.

The hum it gave off was deep and foreboding.

A second later, it fired.

A continuous stream of pure energy screamed upward. One of Dupli-Kate's clones leapt to engage, but the beam cut straight through her. She split in half mid-air.

"Shit!" Rex yelled, hurling a cluster of explosive spheres at the cannon. The impact blew it sky-high as pieces of molten metal raining down in chunks.

He barely had time to celebrate before another turret dropped into place from a Flaxan supply carrier.

"OH COME ON!" Rex snapped, flinging another wave of bombs.

But they'd adapted.

Another Flaxan, bulkier than the rest, with a large weapon strapped to its back, aimed up. The device whirred, then sucked in Rex's explosives mid-flight. A gravitational pulse detonated them in reverse, flinging burning shrapnel straight back at him.

"HEY! DON'T DO THAT!" Rex yelped, diving behind a parked truck just before it exploded.

From above, Robot's eyes flared. Twin shoulder panels snapped open. Miniature rockets screamed from his back, curving through the smoke and debris in tight arcs. They slammed into the turrets and the Flaxan gunners, turning both into scrap and vapor.

But it wasn't over.

From the crowd emerged the Flaxan leader.

The same one Naruto had tossed back through the portal days ago like a piece of garbage. Its armor was scorched but reinforced, its eyes burning with vengeance, and it growled in recognition.

Naruto met its gaze. No smile this time.

With a sharp command in its native tongue, the Flaxans deployed a new weapon, this one hidden in a compact shoulder rig. It fired a net crackling with blue static.

The EMP trap struck Robot mid-air.

His cruiser bike faltered, sputtered, then plummeted. Sparks exploded from his joints as he slammed into the pavement in a heap of smoke and twitching servos.

"They planned for this," Eve muttered, eyes narrowing. "They're ready."

Mark landed beside her. "What now?"

Before he could finish, a wall of Flaxans began opening fire again, pushing forward with ruthless formation.

Eve exhaled and threw her hands up.

A translucent pink dome burst around them, shielding from the barrage. Bolts struck the barrier like rain against glass, refracting light in brilliant arcs.

But Eve wasn't done.

With a cry, she split the shield into jagged panels, shards of hardlight that floated for a breath… then shot forward like blades.

They sliced through Flaxan armor. Cut down rows. Dismantled turrets. In seconds, half the street was carnage.

Eve dropped to a knee, panting, her arms trembling. Her nose bled lightly from the strain.

Out of the smoke from Eve's devastating attack, small metal tracking orbs whirred to life.

Fist-sized spheres painted in dull gray, glinting with embedded sensors. They darted through the chaos like hornets, weaving past rubble and fire, and all heading straight for her.

"Great! I love this for me!"

Eve, still catching her breath, raised glowing hands as her signature pink energy flared to life. 

Tight, focused blasts of hardlight shot from her palms, tearing through the first wave with precise bursts.

One after another, the orbs exploded mid-air in flashes of sparks and shrill metallic shrieks.

She exhaled, lowering her arms slightly, tension finally loosening from her shoulders.

Clink.

Her eyes widened as one last orb zipped in low, hugging the ground like a predator. It launched up, unfolded mid-flight, and latched onto her face like a metallic spider. The device expanded, covering her eyes and mouth in a sleek, smothering clamp.

Eve screamed into it, muffled and panicked as she began staggering backwards before falling hard on her back, clawing at the device with trembling fingers. Her nails scraped sparks off the surface.

"Eve!" Mark yelled, diving after her.

The Flaxans opened fire. Beams rained down on him as he descended. The moment his feet hit pavement, the shockwave cracked the asphalt and sent the nearest squad flying like bowling pins.

He knelt beside her, but that was when the turrets locked onto him.

A dozen cannons roared to life. Energy blasts slammed into his chest and shoulders. He gritted his teeth and stood his ground, arms crossed in front of him as the impact forced him back, inch by inch.

"Ugh!" Mark growled, straining as heat shimmered around him.

The Flaxan leader watched the battle, eyes glinting with satisfaction. Its scarred jaw curled into a smirk as it pointed toward Invincible.

"Xopa moy!" it ordered.

Two squads of foot soldiers sprinted into position behind Mark, raising thick rifles and fired.

Streams of cement-like liquid shot forward, splattering across Mark's back and legs. It hissed and hardened on contact, anchoring him to the ground like quick-set concrete.

"Shit!" he groaned, struggling, arms locked in place. The substance didn't budge.

He turned, eyes scanning the battlefield. Kate was barely holding on, split copies of herself getting gunned down faster than they could act. One of them cried out as a plasma bolt caught her in the side.

Robot's voice cut in, distorted with static. "They seem to have spent their time wisely."

Mark clenched his fists, struggling harder. "Naruto! Where the hell are you?!"

The wind shifted.

The Flaxan leader flinched.

A sonic boom cracked the sky.

And in the blink of an eye Maelstrom hit the ground.

Not landed. Not hovered.

Hit.

A thunderclap of force shattered the nearest turret as he drove his foot through it like it was paper. Metal screamed. Plasma coils burst. The Flaxan gunner went flying in two directions.

Naruto stood in the center of the crater he'd made his eyes burning, bright and inhuman.

The air around him twisted.

A low hum filled the street. The kind of sound people feel in their teeth before they hear it with their ears.

"Alright," he said flatly, not even looking at the leader.

"Let's try this again."

The nearest Flaxan lunged but Naruto caught him mid-swing by the wrist and ripped its arm clean off before flipping it over and driving its head into the concrete.

A turret swiveled toward him.

He didn't dodge.

He moved.

One moment, he was ten feet away. The next he was inside the turret. His palm glowing, pressed to its power core.

It exploded outward in a flare of orange and flame.

The battlefield stilled for a moment.

Even the Flaxan leader hesitated.

Naruto rolled his neck. "Next."