Mark walks through the halls of his school with his hoodie over his head. He has no interest in talking to anyone. Not that he would any other day, but he just wanted to make sure no one thought to talk to him. He wasn't bothered by what happened yesterday, just incredibly tired. He didn't get enough sleep last night, not that he ever did, but he had to do homework, and that was a bother to the power of one million. He walked through the hall, unbothered by the people bumping into him. He didn't even feel them.
"..rk."
".ark."
"Mark. Whoa ... Are you okay?" William asks.
"Do I look like I'm okay?"
"No. What happened, is it something with your family? Are they sick? Tell me."
"..."
"..."
"I only slept 7 hours last night."
"...What?"
"7 hours. Can you imagine? And only because of that darn homework. I could commit homocide."
"That's-"
"The horror, I know."
"And here I was thinking-"
"Oh, and my dad's in the hospital."
"Huh?! You should have started with that. What happened? Is-Is he okay?"
"Heeeeee ... fell down the stairs."
-_-
"Really? Are you sure that's what happened?"
"It's messed up, he fell really weird and- and his arm it's like ... broken and stuff."
"Is this a real story? Or are you messing with me?"
"..."
"I'm so sorry. Tell me if you need anything. Did I tell you that I make good lasagna? Actually, I make a great one."
"For real? I do enjoy meself some lasagna. You kno-"
Mark stops as he sees someone at the lockers. He recognises her from the day before, and something flashes through his mind. An idea, something that might revolutionise the way he will train in the future.
"Eve Weaklings..."
"Wilkins, but yeah, that's her."
"I need to talk to her."
"Ha, you and all the other straight boys in a ten-mile radius. Good luck with that, and didn't you just get your ass kicked last week for Amber Bennett?"
"Who?"
Mark walks forward to Eve.
"Eve? Uh, hi."
"Oh, hey. Mark, right?"
"Grayson, yeah, yeah, introduction and all that. So I wanted to talk to you ... about yesterday."
"Yesterday?"
"Yeah, when you ... helped me. You know, for creating the ball?"
"Oh. OH! That was you? Wait, of course, that was you. In black and blue. I didn't recognise you without all the, uh, blood and mask on your face."
"Yeah, it's one of my charms. I'm ... Invincible."
"Wow, Robot told us you went by that name, but wow. Sounds a little optimistic. But I can't say you didn't make your name all the honour. I'm Atom Eve."
"No shit."
"Haha, but the rest of the team just calls me Eve. So does everyone else."
"So you use your real name as your Superhero name and also don't wear a mask to hide your identity. Do you hate your family or something?"
"Really, Invincible?"
"Anyway, I need to talk to you about yesterday. Are you free?"
"You do look like you need to talk about yesterday. Come on."
So, Eve takes Mark to the roof, where they can talk to each other unbothered. As they walk away, the other teenagers talk about them.
"I heard he just let Todd hit him. Like 20 times. He didn't flinch or anything."
"I heard he hit him so that Todd had to vomit, and that's why he freaked out and stayed home for three days."
"Are you talking about Mark Grayson?" Amber asks the other two girls.
"Duh, of course, Amber. You're the reason he got hit by Todd the first time."
.
"The roof, huh. Do you come here often or something?"
"It helps me clear my head. Don't you have a place where you clear your head?"
"The gym."
"The gym? Why there?"
"Nothing clears your mind like pushing weights as hard as possible."
"Well, you do look like you're using weights. I don't think I ever realised how muscular you were. You might have the hardest case of 'sleepers build' I have ever heard of."
"And I never recognised you before. Despite you not wearing a mask or anything."
"No one does. It's a psychology thing. If you don't expect to see a superhero at your school, you don't see a superhero at your school."
"Hmm. Teen Team. I didn't know there was such a thing."
"For real? You don't know about the other hero teams?"
"I look at the news, every now and again, but Social Media is not a real place, so I don't give a shit."
"Well ... that's impressive. I guess."
"So you're one of the Teen Team."
"Yep, that's us. Everyone's fourth favourite superhero team."
"Hmm."
"So ... despite your obvious lack of knowledge, you're not new to this, are you?"
"To what?"
"Being a superhero and all."
"Oh, no, I'm no superhero. I'm new to this, though."
"What? I saw you in action yesterday. There's no way you're new to this. The way you moved and how well you managed to take them down ... it was incredible. Just at the end ..."
"Ah, yes, the end ... narcolepsy."
"For real? Amidst the fighting? How?"
"It's bad. But it's getting better, ever since I got my powers."
"But during a fight ... that seems extreme."
"Extreme is all I know. It was my first big fight. I might have experience in the ring, but that was something else entirely."
"You were amazing yesterday. People managed to escape because of you. I remember my first big fight. I used to throw up before every fight. Barf my guts out."
"For real?"
"Like a fire hydrant. But you already seem accustomed to it all. You were always focused and ready. It was as if you knew what was happening behind you."
"Hmm."
Mark doesn't answer her and just lies down, looking up in the sky. While others have the need to speak and fill in awkward pauses, such a thing doesn't exist for Mark. He lets the silence stretch and breathes in.
"Sooo..."
"You know. This was the longest I have ever talked to someone around my age."
Eve looks at him strangely, raising an eyebrow. She's a very sociable young woman and doesn't know what it's like to be ignored or to have few friends. And while it's by choice, in Mark's case, it is still similar. He doesn't care for social gatherings and shits on what others might consider 'proper' for his age. He does his thing, and no matter what anyone says, he will do what he likes. He never liked talking to teenagers, but today, he unknowingly spoke to Eve, despite approaching her for a different reason.
"Really? Don't you have any friends?"
"Not really. I have no filters, which makes others dislike what I say most of the time. But since when did feelings come to play such a powerful role in our lives?"
"I understand what you mean. Hmm, you know what?"
"What?"
"Why don't you come and meet the Teen Team after school today?"
"Teen Team? I don't know about that. I heard they're only everyone's fourth favourite hero team."
*Sigh*
"I shouldn't have told you that. Meet me out front after class, Invincible." Eve says and jumps off the school, flying away.
.
"You kids did good, Robot."
"Thank you, Cecil. It's an honour to assist the Global Defense Agency. Though your use of the term 'kids' might be considered condescending."
"But a victory? No. Do you know how many people died here yesterday? 247. 247 ... and it only stopped there whoever the hell those assholes were, ran away."
"The Flaxxans"
"Flaxxans?"
"They call themselves the Flaxxans. I reverse-engineered their language using recordings from the battle. Any idea why they left, just when they were kicking our asses?"
"I have six ideas ..."
Robot and Cecil watch one of the tanks of the Flaxxans fall to the ground.
"... but I believe that narrows it down to one. Oxidised and corroded. For an alloy like this, that should take years."
"Time runs faster wherever they come from. They ran off because they..."
"... were dying of old age."
"Huh. Well, if they come back, maybe I'll just evacuate the area and wait till they get cancer. How did that new kid do?"
"Invincible? He has great promise. If I hadn't confirmed it, I would have assumed he had years of experience. The way he moved across the battlefield was impressive. And if he has been doing this for such a short time ... he will be a huge help. But he wasn't as effective as he could have been."
"All the better. We can really use his help."
"Why?"
Cecil doesn't answer and walks away, teleporting to the scene where the Guardians of the Globe were killed.
"From one giant shitshow to another. Give me some good news, Donald."
"Whoever did this cut the power and the backup. They killed the cameras and the security systems. Forensics, frankly, is stumped. I told them to start over and try harder."
"That's not good news. That's not good news at all! I asked you for some good news, Donald!
.
Back in school, Mark is placing his books back in his locker.
"Hey. I heard you took a few on the chin for me again."
"..."
"... Hello?"
"Do I know you?"
"What?"
"Are you sure you're talking to the right person? I've never taken anything to my chin."
"... Are you serious?"
"Is this a quiz show or something?"
"You don't even remember my name? We go to the same school and have a few classes together. I don't think this is funny. I was going to apologise for getting in trouble with Todd again because of me, but I have no interest in-" She stops talking as she sees Mark turn around and walk away.
"Hey! Are you walking away from me? What is wrong with you?"
"Can I help you with anything? I have like places to be, things to do, which don't bore me."
"Tch! You're sad, Grayson."
"The word you're looking for is disinterested. Now I have to go. Let's never do this again."
Amber looks at Mark, leaves, and stops to think about it. She thinks that he tried to act cool in front of her or tried to be funny. But now, she was no longer so sure. She watches Mark exit the school and meet Samantha Eve Wilkins. This throws her opinion overboard.
"Ready?" Eve asks, and Mark nods.
Just as she had formed an opinion, she is no longer certain. Mark and Eve go behind the building.
"Why are we going out here? Do you take the bus to your team's secret base?"
"Are you kidding me? I can fly! C'mon. We can change back here."
"Near the garbage? How romantic."
"I know, but do you know any other secluded places around here?" Eve asks as she uses her powers to change her outfit. She sees that Mark has already changed. "Wow, that was quick. Normally, I'm the fastest."
"Mhm. Well, I suppose not, but I probably would have gone home first and only then left for the secret base. So, you ready?"
"Always."
The two take to the sky and fly through the city. It is clear that Eve enjoys flying and uses her powers to create a ramp for her. Mark has a bit of a different mindset and sees his powers as a means to an end, and that end is enjoyment, but also a purpose. He doesn't really have a teenager mindset, despite being content with his powers finally kicking in. The reason for this is that he always was different and stronger than everyone else, except his father. So, the transition to having powers now isn't as significant a leap as it may have been for others.
They make it to a bridge. A round door opens up beneath them, and they fly in. All of the members of the Teen Team are present.
"Babe", Rex Splode says and kisses his girlfriend.
"Oh, hey! It's the Iceman. Truly, that was impressive, especially how you fell asleep at the end there."
"Rex."
"Welcome, Invincible. My name is Robot. My apologies for Rex Splode. He's ..."
"Unbelievably awesome."
"Incorrigible."
"And rude."
"Aaand bored of this."
"I'm Dupli-Kate."
"Aha, very informative," Mark says with a neutral expression.
"Hey, Robot, find anything at the site?" Eve asks.
"The Flaxxans come from a dimension with a faster temporal rate. As a result, the tachyons they emit spin more rapidly than our own. I've created a detector to warn us if they return."
"Ah, because we almost missed all the explosions and the screaming and the chaos."
"It should give us a few minutes of early warning. Cecil and the GDA have also requested to call on us for any possible emergencies. Since the Guardians are apparently indisposed, Invincible, may we count on you in the future?"
"I'll see what I can do. If the Flaxxans return, I'll definitely be there."
"Robot, Invincible and I wanted to ask you about something else."