Mark flies downtown and sees a big army attacking. They are marching out of an orange-red portal, armed with advanced energy weapons and tanks.
"An alien invasion?"
The aliens start to fire at the people, who are surprised by the sudden invasion. Being normal was bloody awful in this world, and it was showing. Red energy beams, fired from their weapons, fly through the air, hitting humans and ripping them apart like bloody tissues. Extremities and other body parts fly through the air, blood is spattered everywhere, and the police, who have erected a barrier using their cars, are doing their very best to hold the enemy off. But why they aren't better equipped when this seems to be rather common is anyone's guess.
The aliens create a barrier and hide behind it, letting the tanks fire at the cars.
*BOOOM*
One policeman explodes into a bloody mist, and the car shoots through the air, hitting many civilians as it lands. Mark floats in the sky, and as he watches, he feels that something is about to change. He had been called a barbarian before, but this ... this was something he had never experienced before.
"All right. Maximum effort."
Mark shoots forward, diving lower and dodging the energy beams fired from the enemy's weapons. Explosions take place left and right, and another portal just opened up, giving way for even more aliens. He lands in the middle of the fleeing people and looks around; he has incredible multitasking skills, which allow him to track the happenings of an entire battlefield at once, and it is showing. In a second, he realises that he first has to secure the civilians' retreat, but that will be hard. He looks to the left, sees the bus and nods his head.
"That'll d-"
*BOOOM*
An energy beam flashes through several bodies and hits him straight on the chest, knocking him to the ground. His ears ring, he can hear his heartbeat, and he feels an annoyance that overcomes him when he is stuck somewhere. He doesn't like this feeling. The sounds fade, and the high-pitched ringing settles. He clenches his jaw and stands back up. He looks at the aliens and then shoots forward. He grabs the bus he had seen just moments before and lifts it into the air. He can feel the strain on his muscles, but that's irrelevant now, as it's almost nothing. He still knows who is where, so he swings the bus around, using it like a bat and smashes the first row of aliens away, as if he were batting a baseball.
*BBOBOOOMMM*
He lowers the bus and grabs a piece of rock lying on the ground. With precision, he hurls the rock through the air, hitting one of the aliens, who was just about to execute an old woman. He rushes forward, placing himself in front of the fire and takes a few hits. He lifts her up as gently as he can.
"Can you hear me, ma'am? Stay away, alright? This'll be one hell of a ride."
"Brax moy!"
*BOOOM* X28
Invincible is attacked more fiercely now. The aliens see him as a threat and want to eliminate him. He pulls the woman closer to his chest and then takes to the air. He tries to fly as high as he can, getting the woman to safety.
*BOOOM*
An energy beam hits him, but he doesn't care. He manages to catch himself and flies faster up on the nearest roof. He falls on his back and protects the woman with his body. As fast as he can, he lays her down gently.
"You're alright. Stay here, I'll be right back."
After saying that, he jumps back down. He lands in the middle of the battlefield again and gets back the information of who's where. He grabs the nearest car and turns around. Then, with a powerful throw, he shoots it forward, hitting one of the tanks and causing it to explode, saving a bunch of people who were being targeted but opening himself up for an attack. Another tank, with the alien he threw the rock at earlier, is sitting inside and snarling evilly, aiming at Invinicible. He fires the cannon. But before it could hit Invincible, a pink barrier appears before him and blocks the attack from landing.
A young woman with orange hair, wearing a pink costume, lands in front of him.
"I don't know who you are, but it's time to go."
The alien responds in his language, but no one understands it. At least, almost no one. Invincible has a knack for language,s and he has already picked up one or two words. Before he can attack, though, another figure arrives on a floating bike, which he aims at the tank and jumps off just a second earlier.
*BOOOOOM*
Two more people arrive: a young Chinese woman with black hair and a violet suit and a man with a red and yellow suit. Finally, the figure from earlier was actually a robot who started to calculate the battle situation.
"Eve, two and a half seconds after this sentence, three enemy tanks will align 50 degrees to your right."
"I got it."
Atom Eve creates a pink spear and throws it towards the aligning tanks, causing them all to explode. The Robot continues to tell the others what to do.
"Rex, civilians in danger to your left."
"Uh, yeah, I got eyes, too, Robot."
Rex throws several explosive charges at the aliens, while the third member, Dupli-Kate, creates more duplicates and attacks the aliens in hand-to-hand combat. Atom Eve sees Invincible protecting a mother and her child.
"You! Get out of here, get them to safety."
"Create a bubble for me."
"What?"
"Create a bubble for me!"
Atom Eve is confused but creates a bubble for the mother and her child. Invincible nods his head and picks up the two. Then ... he throws them along the street.
"You ... WHAT WAS THAT?!"
Invincible doesn't answer and flies forward to the fountain in the middle. He breaks off the stone construct in the middle and flies into the air. Then he starts flying through the aliens' ranks, using the stone construct like a battering ram. The bodies break, and their blood splashes on Invincible's body. But he doesn't stop and continues forward, until he reaches a tank. He uses what his father told him and pushes off, turning around to gain momentum and then throws the stone monument at the tank.
*BOOOM*
He flips and turns to dodge several attacks coming his way and drops to the ground. He moves forward, grabbing the first alien and punching him in the face. His fist squishes the alien's head and penetrates it, emerging from the other side. He grabbed the energy weapon and aimed it at the nearest alien. Without thinking about it, he pulls the trigger.
*ZOOM*
*SPLATT*
Invincible continues moving through the battlefield, dodging the attacks and aiming the weapon at targets threatening civilians and members of the young heroes. As he makes his way forward, he punches, kicks and headbutts anything that he comes across. He points the weapon at another alien but is met with an empty clicking sound. Unbothered, he turns the weapon and smashes it across the alien's head. As the Primarch Vulkan said, 'It's also a hammer.'
"Uhh, who is that guy?" Rex asks the others.
"I've never seen him before. But he's good."
"Indeed. He appeared a few days ago. He calls himself Invincible." Robot explains to the others.
They manage not to be overwhelmed, thanks to Invincible, but they watch as one of the tanks aims at him and fires. They are too late and watch as a powerful explosion catapults Invincible to the back.
*BOOOM*
More and more aliens rush forward, attacking Invincible and shooting him. For a moment, they seem to overwhelm him since he's not moving.
"What happened with him?"
"I don't know; he's no longer moving. Can you see anything, Robot?"
"I don't know. But it appears as if..."
Suddenly, Mark sits up and looks around. The truth is, he just fell asleep for a second. But he's awake now and continues to fight as if nothing happened.
However, suddenly, all attacks stop. The aliens shout to one another and begin running back through the portals from which they arrived. The alien invasion is over as they retreat back to their dimension. Instead of waiting, Invincible shoots into the sky to the roof where he left the old woman. He feels her pulse and then flies off towards the GDA base, where his father is located.
"I don't know what just happened, but I think I speak for everyone here when I say, I never want it to happen ever again!" Rex Splode says and punches a dying alien in the face.
"Indeed. But I believe we got off easy this time. Thanks to Invincible."
.
Invincible arrives at the Pentagon, where his father is being taken care of with the old woman in his arms.
"I could use some help here. Anyone?"
"Freeze!"
All around, various GDA Tech-Troopers drop their invisibility and point their guns at him.
"She needs a doctor."
"He's covered in blood."
"Come on."
"Give her to us!" the doctor says. "Clamp that vein and get a drip started. Prep operating room six."
"Yes, doctor."
"He's clear," the GDA Tech-Troopers say and put their invisibility back on.
Mark stands in the hall for a moment and lets the entire thing pass through his mind. He made mistakes today and will have to learn from them. That was a shitshow in his book. He makes his way towards his father's room, where he finds his mother missing. He sits down and leans back, cracking his back and exhaling. He was stressed today, something he hadn't experienced in a very long time.
The door opens, and Debbie walks in. She sees the bloodstain in the hall leading to Mark and runs towards him. Mark forgot about that.
"Mark!"
"Haa… I messed up today, Mom. Quite badly, too."
Debbie hugs her son and tries to comfort him. She never had to do that much, despite wishing that she had. But seeing him so tired before her, she understands how serious it is.
"It's okay."
"I don't know what happened, not fully. I was aware of what was going on and who was there, but there was nothing besides that. I wasn't decisive enough and hesitated at first. That caused the death of civilians. And then ... I don't know ... it's like ... a switch that was flipped. I moved through the battlefield like a savage."
Debbie listens to Mark explain everything. She isn't used to him expressing himself this way.
"You're not a savage, Mark. It was your first fight, and the first time is the hardest. I'm sure you saved many lives today."
"I don't know ... It's not that it was hard, but more that it ... wasn't. I was clumsy and inexperienced, true, but not really ineffective. Yet, still, many people died. And for the first time in a long time, I feel so ... tired."
"Oh, sweety. That's perfectly normal."
Debbie was right; it was normal. Mark was used to being able to run for an entire day and not being bothered by that. He trains in martial arts and does heavy lifting, but he hasn't reached his max like he did today since he started doing it. The reason he was this tired now was that he was in a situation, unlike anything his mind and body had ever experienced. He might have experienced fighting other people in the ring and running for an entire day, but being in a battle where people died and lives were at stake was very different. He didn't look like it, but it was still new for the 17-year-old.
Mark was immune to psychological trauma from sources including combat, bloodshed, death, gore and more, and that was what was so strange to him. He wasn't really bothered by what he was feeling but by what he wasn't. He knew intellectually that he had messed up and didn't act immediately, but he blamed his inexperience for it. That was something he would be able to deal with. He simply didn't like it.
After he had spent a few hours with his father and mother at the hospital, he eventually left to go home and shower. He had school tomorrow and wasn't looking forward to it.
______________
Since Mark was ‚born' with the Essence he's not aware of it. Which is why he's confused.