Chapter 5: 5: Plan B
5: Plan B
"It seems like a great place" Mark walked around the Team Teen headquarters, wearing his spare suit. He was glad that Art had made more than one.
It was the morning after the whole fiasco with the Mauler twins. Robot had called Mark to invite him to his lair. Mark supposed he wanted to invite him to join the team or something similar. Robot should already know that the Guardians were dead. Soon, he would have to form a new group, and with his memories as a reference, Robot would be the one to take charge.
"Thanks, I built it myself" Robot walked alongside him towards where the other members of the group were spending their time.
Mark looked at them. It was still surprising to notice the big differences between looking at something in reality and seeing it in 2D.
Rex noticed his arrival and stood up from his seat with a smile.
"Look who's here! I didn't think we'd see you so soon"
Mark greeted him. The guy didn't seem so unpleasant, but considering he hadn't done anything to annoy him yet, that could change.
Atom Eve and Dupli-Kate also greeted him, and soon everyone was gathered. Robot had mentioned that he had something important to tell them.
"What's up, Robot? You don't usually call us so early unless there's an emergency" Eve asked, and the other members nodded in agreement.
"A few weeks ago, I told you that the team would disband due to my imminent joining of the Guardians. That's off" that seemed to surprise the team.
Rex seemed quite outraged as he started speaking.
"Wait, what?! Those idiots rejected you? They can't do that!"
Robot quickly raised his hand to calm him and continued speaking.
"The GDA has informed me that the Guardians are missing. Nothing is confirmed yet, but it seems something happened to them. That's why they've asked me to keep Teen Team on guard. For now, we'll take care of any threats that arise until there's more information about the whereabouts of the Guardians"
That seemed to quiet Rex.
"Well, damn, more work"
Ignoring his complaints, Robot turned to Mark.
"That's why I've called you here. With the Guardians indisposed, we need all the help we can get. Invincible, do you think we can count on you?"
Mark smiled, an expected request with an answer he had already thought of.
"You already have my number. If you need my help, no matter what it is, just tell me, and I'll be there in a blink"
In truth, being a hero wasn't his priority. He didn't think he was a bad guy, but he also didn't think he was a saint. Mark was clear about this. However, he also knew that in this world, he needed to choose a side. There was Earth and there was Viltrum. He had already decided to bet on Earth, so making allies was his best option.
He wasn't sure yet how difficult the fight would be in the future. He didn't know how strong the planets coalition was, but considering that Allen had been his greatest success and that success had failed miserably, well, Mark didn't have high hopes for them.
So, the key should be Earth. He had been surfing the internet, and the number of heroes and villains was insane. He didn't know if any of them would be enough to face a Viltrumite, but he didn't have other great options.
It was either that or become stupidly strong enough to face an entire galactic empire on his own...
Whether it was the latter or the former, Earth was still his home. Even if in the end, he won on his own, what good would it be if Earth were destroyed?
"So, we'll count on you" Robot stretched out his hand, and Mark took it. Robot was also a part of his plan. Mark wasn't a genius, but he didn't need to be if he already had one by his side.
Before they could say anything else, an alarm started blaring loudly. Everyone became alert, and Robot quickly deployed a holographic screen.
"The city is under attack."
Mark looked at the images. The open portal from which an army of green aliens emerged was familiar.
So, it's time'
Without hesitation, they all set off.
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Hundreds of laser beams rained down everywhere. Mark was the fastest to arrive at the scene and without hesitation, he dove towards a crowd of Flaxan soldiers.
His landing created a shockwave that cleared dozens of meters around him, causing the invading army to turn and focus their attention on him.
"You know, the city just had one invasion; it doesn't need another" Mark spoke, though he was somewhat distracted. There was something strange, a sensation he couldn't describe. The speedforce within him stirred as if it had found something familiar.
Mark narrowed his eyes and looked at the portal. Was space twisting? No, it wasn't just space; time was warping.
He didn't know how, but he could feel it, like time between Earth and Flaxan was splitting, two different dimensions with different spacetimes connected through a portal.
It was as if they were in conflict, and Earth was winning. Maybe the Flaxans didn't feel it yet, but Mark could. The biological clock in their bodies was accelerating; every passing second, they began to age faster.
Seeing it on a program and literally feeling how it worked were two different things.
Mark watched them raise their weapons and prepare to shoot at him. Honestly, he was tempted to just stand there and wait for them to die of old age, but that wouldn't be much of a performance.
So, he launched himself at them, easily dodging energy blasts and crashing into the alien tanks. His body passed through the extremely dense material they were made of, causing the vehicle to explode.
The Flaxans screamed, their unintelligible language echoing across the battlefield as Mark hurried to deal with them.
A group aimed at him, but before they could attack, a pink energy field crushed them from the sky.
The Teen Team had arrived.
Mark looked at them and smiled.
"I thought I'd have to handle this on my own!"
"Don't even think about it, kicking butt is our job!" Rex charged towards the enemies while Dupli-Kate began flooding a section of the battlefield with her copies.
Robot navigated through the air alongside his vehicle. Mark wondered how many of those he had. Just yesterday, he had crashed one into the Mauler army.
Atom Eve flew beside Mark, scanning the battlefield.
"Here, take this"
Mark caught the object she tossed him. It looked like a Bluetooth earpiece.
"It's a communicator; we couldn't give you one earlier"
Mark nodded and put it on, able to hear Robot giving orders to Rex and Dupli-Kate through it.
"Invincible, I need you to take care of the tanks on the right flank. Eve, cover the civilian evacuation"
Eve didn't speak further and quickly followed the orders. Mark watched her go for a second before diving towards the alien tanks.
He focused on being a good flying brick and smashed any target he was given.
In truth, this was good for him. He let Robot guide him while his mind focused on something more important.
He was trying to understand the accelerated time flow of the Flaxan dimension.
He grabbed a Flaxan by the head as he flew by and used his body as a projectile, crashing him into a group of six others. Everywhere he flew, any resistance or obstacle was destroyed.
Unnoticed by anyone, the blue lightning flashed in his eyes as he approached the portal.
Soon, the Flaxan army was forced to retreat further and further. In a short time, more than half had been defeated, and they began to withdraw. It was at that moment that the fluctuations in spacetime began to take effect.
The Flaxans began to visibly age, their weapons dropped to the ground, and they soon started running back to the portal.
Mark considered whether he should go through the portal now.
He had long thought about going to the Flaxan dimension. It was a great opportunity to train in a place like a hyperbolic time chamber.
The problem was coming back. Theoretically, he could use the speedforce to travel between dimensions, but if he did it that way, he didn't know how many years he would spend in Flaxan. They might call him stupid, but he didn't think his sanity would withstand living in constant warfare with a bunch of ungraceful green aliens.
And if he killed them all and failed to master the speedforce enough to be able to return, then he would be trapped there for who knows how long. Nothing guaranteed that he could use the same trick as Omni-Man to force them to open a portal, and if he did, that meant some would survive in one way or another.
He didn't know if he wanted to become an enemy of a highly technological race that could prepare hundreds or thousands of years ahead of him to kill him.
Despite all this, he had been willing to try. There was just one problem; his plan had been made with the assumption that Omni-Man would remain in a coma after killing the Guardians.
Mark glanced out of the corner of his eye towards the distant sky.
Others might not notice, but he had become very good at detecting it. There, watching the battle, was his father.
What if he left now and got trapped in Flaxan longer than planned? Would his father ravage the Earth in his absence? When he returned, would he find a Viltrumite army occupying the planet?
He needed to modify his plan.
'I can't go by myself; I have to take him with me.'
To ensure that his father wouldn't do anything to Earth while he was away, he needed to drag him to Flaxan with him.
And if possible, only he would return from Flaxan.
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"They look like wrinkled raisins" Rex pulled the flaccid arm of a Flaxan soldier who had died of old age. Eve slapped his hand, causing him to release the corpse. She looked at him with clear disgust, and Rex just clicked his tongue.
"It seems like time passes differently between their dimension and ours" Robot was analyzing the remains. The Flaxans had returned to their dimension quickly, without time to retrieve their dead or their technology.
"So, we just had to wait for them to die of old age?" Kate said, her clones were cleaning up their own remains. Mark saw this from the side and couldn't help but be a little disturbed.
He couldn't imagine what it would feel like to clean your own corpse.
Soon, G.D.A agents began arriving, ready to clean the battlefield more thoroughly.
Thanks to Mark and the Teen Team, the damage to the city could be contained in a small area, so it wouldn't take long to clean up and rebuild.
Mark approached Robot as if he were "concerned"
"I don't think this was all," he said loud enough for the entire Team Teen to hear.
"What do you mean?" Eve asked.
"If time passes differently in their dimension, that means they can prepare for a second attempt. I think they'll be back"
Robot nodded at his words.
"I believe so too. We must prepare for their return."
Rex rolled his eyes and shrugged.
"Come on, we just have to beat them up until they wrinkle up and run away again. How hard can it be?"
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three hours later
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"Shit! Damn it!"
Rex moved back and forth, barely dodging the energy projectiles. Surrounding him from all directions, an army three times larger than the previous one had arrived through three different portals.
Robot had to crash his flying bike again, and Dupli-Kate had barricaded herself on the left side, barely keeping pace. The ground was covered in the red of her blood.
Eve tried to prevent the army from spreading beyond the area they had prepared for the attack. G.D.A soldiers fired from the barricades that separated the rest of the city from the Flaxan incursion point.
Mark was the one doing the most work, and it was obvious to anyone watching.
At the beginning of the second attack, dozens of tanks had fired simultaneously at him, trying to contain him, which hadn't worked at all. Then they tried to encase him in a gray, sticky substance.
That hadn't worked either.
Eve watched from her position as Invincible tore through the battlefield. She was glad to have him on their side at times like these. She knew her own team's capabilities very well; she knew that without Invincible there, they would have been overwhelmed long ago.
Eve raised her hand, her fist surrounded by pink energy, and struck one of those spheres that had been pursuing her since the battle began. She didn't exactly know what they were trying to do, and she didn't want to find out.
Dozens more of those spheres were launched at her. She managed to destroy most of them, but in a moment of distraction, one managed to pass through her guard and soon found her face covered. For a moment, panic flooded her, but when she noticed nothing was happening, she couldn't help but blink.
This thing was just preventing her from breathing, but it wasn't doing anything else. With some doubt, she put her hand on her face; the pink light shone, and the metallic object found its atomic structure bent and changed forcibly. It soon slipped through Eve's hands, turning into air, and she couldn't help but be perplexed.
"Seriously? This is what they prepared against me?"
She didn't know whether to feel insulted or relieved.
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Elsewhere on the battlefield, Robot deployed all his weaponry against the enemy. If this continued, they would run out of ammunition soon. He had set a timer, and the time when the Flaxans were supposed to start aging had already passed.
Somehow, they had countered the effect of spacetime on them. Robot struck an enemy soldier, dodged shots from two more, and took cover behind the ruins of one of the tanks Invincible had destroyed.
Perhaps the only good news in all of this was that Invincible was with them, drawing most of the enemy's attention, which was dangerous but seemed quite capable of holding his ground. They just had to keep going until Robot found a way to neutralize any technology the Flaxans were using to adapt to Earth's time.
Which would be sooner rather than later.
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Mark punched the ground, the shockwave sent bursts of air and made the earth around him tremble. Dozens of Flaxan soldiers were sent flying, and another dozen fell to the ground.
Mark took a deep breath. This fight was proving to be more fun than he had expected. He didn't know if it was his Viltrumite side or if he had always been like this without knowing it. He had never killed anything before, and when he killed the first Flaxan, he thought he would feel something more.
He thought it would affect him more.
Perhaps because they weren't humans, perhaps for some other reason, somehow killing them felt like squashing a fly. He didn't know if it was a good thing or not, but in the midst of constant attacks and with adrenaline flooding his system, he didn't have time to think about it.
The time to reflect was not now. He glanced out of the corner of his eye; his father was still and watching. He didn't know what he was waiting for, maybe he wanted to see how far he could go on his own?
Wait until he was in trouble to intervene?
Mark clenched his fists; it seemed like this would take some time.
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Nolan watched from the sky, observing his son cutting through the enemy army with pride. He had wanted to intervene from the beginning, to show those invaders the mistake they were making, like many others before them, to demonstrate their place.
But his son had jumped ahead. When he saw him fighting, he decided to wait. This could be a test; Mark was growing stronger, making great strides, but he lacked experience. These green insects would be perfect for him. Nolan would let him play with them, and if necessary, intervene.
"Come on, son, show them the true power of a Viltrumite"
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Eve deployed another energy shield, which was broken in moments. Sweat dripped from her forehead, and she could taste blood in her mouth; she was running out of energy.
A shot grazed her side, and she felt the burning of the laser scorching her skin. She screamed in pain and began to fall.
"I got you!" Invincible quickly caught her in the air, navigated through the hail of shots, and arrived next to Robot, who was behind a barricade of rubble.
"We can't keep this up; more and more keep coming" Eve created a patch over her wound; using her powers excessively was starting to tire her.
"I have the solution." Suddenly, Robot stood up and jumped several meters into the air. A strange frequency emanated from his body. Suddenly, the bracelet that all the Flaxans wore crackled, and then suddenly, the effect of time affected them.
Their skin wrinkled and turned gray, their bodies seemed to lose strength, and they began to fall to the ground.
Rex and Kate took the opportunity to regroup with the team. They all looked battered and wounded, and the G.D.A. team wasn't in much better shape. Despite being in the rear, they had lost dozens of members and had many wounded among them.
Yet once again, the invasion was repelled, and the city suffered no more damage than it had received the first time. This time there were no civilian casualties.
"God, everything hurts. I need a damn massage." Rex stretched; his suit was torn, and numerous bruises could be seen on his skin.
They all looked at him with clear annoyance, to which he blinked in confusion.
"Oh, come on, I know what I said, but this isn't my fault!"
Eve sighed; fatigue hit her, and the wounds on her body made a grimace appear on her face.
Probably the only one who didn't seem injured was Kate, but her eyes showed quite the opposite. One only had to look at the battlefield, and they would surely find a part of her; she had died more than a thousand times at this point.
Mark approached Robot.
"they need to rest, get treatment. I don't know how much time we have before they come back."
Robot agreed and looked at him. Although Invincible didn't show any visible wounds, he was still covered in blood, and his suit was torn in several places.
"What about you?" Eve asked the question before Robot.
Invincible smiled. The protective goggles on the right side of his face were broken, so the team could see the upper half of his face clearly. He seemed to be looking at them confidently.
"I didn't tell you? I'm invincible; I can endure it a while longer, at least enough for you to come and help me later" The team wasn't happy with this, but the reality was that they were all tired except for Mark, and that meant they would only be a burden if they didn't regain their strength.
Suddenly, a blue light broke through beside them, and from it emerged a man with white hair combed back and a nasty scar on his face.
"The boy is right; the Teen Team must withdraw for now. I have ordered the army to evacuate the city completely; soon this whole place will be filled with highly equipped soldiers. If those bastards return, we'll be able to hold the defense line"
Cecil Stedman ordered, turning to look at Mark and extending his hand.
"Invincible, I'm Cecil Stedman, a government agent. I've worked with your father."
Mark shook his hand cautiously. He didn't know what to think of the man, and honestly, he hadn't been very interested in getting to know him.
"I don't think he mentioned you before."
Cecil smiled.
"I'm glad to hear it. Do you know where he is? I've been trying to contact him since all this started, but he hasn't been answering my calls"
Of course, he wouldn't. Mark almost looked in the direction where his father was, but he didn't. His face was partially visible now, and if he looked at Cecil, he would surely suspect.
"I know as much as you do. I said goodbye to him this morning before meeting with the Teen Team, and then all this happened, so I haven't been able to talk to him. It would be really good to have his help now"
Cecil nodded, somewhat disappointed.
From the sidelines, the Teen Team listened without understanding the conversation. Cecil turned to them and ordered his men to treat them; soon they were taken to the outpost that the G.D.A had set up to treat their wounded.
"Well, until he shows up, you're our best defense. Can I trust you to hold the front line?"
Mark smiled and raised his arm in a flexing gesture.
"I still have plenty of fight in me"
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The battlefield was modified once again, with the help of the G.D.A and its agents moving debris, preparing trenches, and securing barricades.
Mark watched this with some amazement; nothing like this had happened in the show. There hadn't been a military presence to face the Flaxans. But again, this wasn't a show; in real life, no country would wait for a group of kids in tights to defeat an invading army by themselves.
Maybe if the Guardians of the Globe were around, but with them out of the picture, things seemed more serious, at least for humans.
Mark wondered if more heroes would come besides him and the Teen Team, but then again, other threats might be attacking the world without his knowledge.
Moreover, the frequency of the attacks also seemed different. In the show, there seemed to be some time between each invasion attempt, but now it felt like everything was happening very quickly.
Three hours. He wondered how many more hours it would take this time before they returned.
He walked over to where the Teen Team was.
Eve seemed to be doing better; it seemed that the G.D.A's medical technology was quite superior to the standard. Kate was sleeping; she seemed to need to rest her mind.
Rex was chatting with some of the G.D.A agents about how he had been kicking the green aliens' asses or something.
Robot was nowhere to be seen; he guessed he should be working somewhere on something to help with the next battle.
"Hey, everything okay out there?" Eve sat on her cot and asked him. Mark approached her and nodded.
"All clear for now. Seems like they'll take a little longer this time"
Eve grimaced. "If we keep this up, we'll lose sooner or later" she seemed discouraged.
Mark put his hand on her shoulder in support.
"Don't worry. If I see things getting worse, I'll go with plan B."
Eve looked at him with doubt.
"Plan B?"
Mark nodded and looked her in the eyes seriously.
"I'll protect this world no matter what, so trust me, I have a plan"
Eve looked at him for a few seconds before sighing and smiling.
"If you say so, I can only hope it's a good plan."
Mark was about to say something else when his stomach began to growl; he had forgotten to eat breakfast.
Eve laughed and reached out a hand; the pink light glowed, and suddenly a double burger appeared.
"Here, you need to regain energy"
"Awesome" Mark didn't miss the chance.
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"It's been 6 hours since the invasion began in the center of New York. The army continues to evacuate civilians, and all streets around have been closed off. The young hero team known as the Teen Team has been repelling the invasion alongside a new young hero called Invincible. So far, the situation seems to be under control, but we still don't know how long this situation will last. The biggest and most pressing question we all have right now is, where are the Guardians of the Globe? Where is Omni-Man?"
Amber watched the news in her room. She didn't live near the city center, so the evacuation hadn't reached her yet, but her parents were already packing their bags.
She had been doing the same until the news broadcast started.
One image caught her attention, causing her to stop and look. At first, she couldn't believe it, but the more she looked, the more convinced she became.
After all, she had been secretly admiring his face for a long time before giving him her number.
In one of the images taken during the second battle, a clearer shot of his face could be seen as he passed through one of the alien vehicles.
He was the one contributing the most to the fight, and he was the one they talked about the most in the broadcasts: the new hero who had recently made his debut.
Invincible.
But Amber knew him by another name.
"Mark?"
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Hours later.
Mark had managed to shower, Art had managed to make some repairs to his suit, and he had obtained another pair of goggles. He still looked somewhat dirty, but given the circumstances, it was the best he could manage.
The Teen Team had mostly recovered thanks to the G.D.A, and Robot had returned from wherever he had been. With him, he had brought another flying motorcycle and what seemed to be two more robots.
He wondered how he controlled them.
Soon, everyone gathered on the battlefield.
"Well, the team is back. Now, does anyone have a plan? Because if the Guardians of the Globe don't show up soon, we're going to get our asses kicked" Rex complained, looking somewhat annoyed as he glanced at Mark.
"I've been studying how they open their portals. I estimate that in a day or two, I should be able to create a machine to reinforce the spacetime around the city and prevent them from opening breaches from their dimension to ours" Robot explained.
"Uh, can you do that?" Rex now looked somewhat perplexed but quickly shook his head. "Or no, buddy! I don't think I can keep fighting like this for a day or two"
Kate nodded, still seeming somewhat affected after all her deaths, and said with a hint of fear, "If I keep fighting like this, let alone a day, even a few more hours could mess me up completely"
Mark cleared his throat. He was about to explain his plan a bit, but before he could do so, the alarms began to sound all around the perimeter.
Suddenly, everyone was moving. The G.D.A agents and the army took their positions hastily, Cecil began barking orders over the comms, and the Teen Team ran to their positions.
Mark sighed. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of his father still observing from afar. Well, if he wasn't going to come, then he'd have to force him.
Then, in a blink of an eye, more than five portals the size of five-story buildings began to open.
From them, dozens of flying ships emerged at full speed, easily breaking the sound barrier and creating dozens of sonic booms as they passed.
Mark opened his eyes slightly, not remembering this. His body soared into the sky quickly as he began to fly towards the enemy ships.
His fist approached one of them, but unexpectedly, they changed their trajectory, dodging his blow, and one of them fired a dark red energy beam towards him.
The impact sent his body crashing to the ground, creating a crater several meters wide.
"Ugh" Mark felt the blood in his mouth; that had hurt.
He opened his eyes when he saw a dozen of those energy beams rushing towards him at full speed.
He quickly got up to dodge, but the beams, as if guided by something, changed direction in the air.
"They sure advance fast" Mark scolded himself. He should have stopped this earlier. He thought it would be like the program, but he was wrong; the Flaxans seemed more capable than he expected.
He navigated through the air swiftly, trying to see how flexible these energy beams were. At the same time, he observed the battle on the ground; things were also going wrong there. Eve was the one holding most of the pressure, but that would soon change if those energy cannons aiming at her managed to hit her.
With an idea in mind, he accelerated more, arriving just as the cannons were preparing to fire. With agility, he diverted his body enough so that the energy beams following him would hit the cannons, creating an explosion that engulfed nearby Flaxans.
Despite this, the energy beams pierced through the smoke and continued to chase him.
"It seems it won't be so easy" he looked at the ships where the beams were coming from; it seemed they needed to keep firing continuously to maintain the pursuit.
If that was the case, the only way to break free from these beams was to destroy those ships.
He closed his eyes for half a second, took a deep breath, and tried to feel it, tried to feel that surge of energy.
Maybe it was because he had spent the last few hours studying the phenomenon caused in spacetime by the Flaxans, maybe something else, but for a second, Mark could feel how that spark of energy within him responded to his call.
A second was all he needed.
Suddenly, in an extremely blurry motion, his figure disappeared from view.
The next moment, the dozen ships that had been chasing him exploded; the sky was filled with clouds of black smoke, and if one had exceptional vision, they would have glimpsed the blue color of lightning.
The Flaxans screamed, not understanding what had happened. Mark fell from the sky and began to pierce through the enemy tanks. Although the Speed Force spark had returned to its slumber, Mark's body was still imbued with kinetic energy, so he took the opportunity to continue pounding the Flaxan army.
Suddenly, something blocked his vision, and Mark was hit dozens of meters until he crashed to the ground.
He shook his head and looked at the culprit; there it was, something he had expected but at the same time, different.
Staring at him with fury were two Flaxans wearing what looked like huge robotic combat armors.
Suddenly, their faces were covered by equally huge helmets, giving them the appearance of metallic giants.
Mark wiped the blood from his nose, stood up, and looked around.
Eve seemed quite comfortable helping the army, Rex and Kate made a good team assaulting the Flaxans from the sides, and Robot seemed like a killing machine. Somehow, he had twice as many weapons with him, in addition to his two copies, who also carried much more weaponry.
It seemed he was the only one capable of fighting on the front lines.
"Alright, let's do this" he looked at his enemies and smiled. He had never imagined himself fighting against an alien army from another dimension, let alone fighting against two of them dressed in power armors likely designed to kill him.
Just the thought that this was only the beginning, and that the future would surely be crazier, almost made him laugh out loud.
He clenched his fists, stomped the ground causing it to collapse, and his body created a shockwave as he shot off faster than a ballistic missile.
His adversaries didn't lag behind; at the same time, they launched towards him. Each step they took made the ground tremble and the concrete crack.
Then they collided; the point of their encounter generated a shockwave that swept across the battlefield. The Flaxan army was crushed, and Atom Eve managed to create several energy fields to protect the Earth soldiers and the Teen Team.
"Invincible!" she shouted but had to retreat; the impact generated was so strong that several buildings threatened to collapse, and all the windows and glass within a radius of ten kilometers shattered.
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Mark dodged a blow and quickly countered with a kick that shook the entire place. Despite that, his opponent didn't retreat; their huge metal hands held onto his leg, and from his right, the other Flaxan rushed in. Their metal fist struck his face, shattering his glasses once again and causing his vision to blur for a second.
He gritted his teeth, spun his body in the air, and his fist crashed into the metallic face of the Flaxan holding him. The metal slightly gave way, and his leg found itself free. He quickly evaded another blow and struck with a knee to the Flaxan who had hit him.
The metal giant was sent flying, and then what seemed like dozens of thrusters ignited on its back and feet, lifting it into the air.
"So, they can fly too. Great" Mark swallowed blood-mixed saliva.
Things were getting better by the moment.
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Things were getting worse by the moment.
Eve watched the battlefield with concern; most of the Flaxan soldiers had been swept aside, but more were beginning to arrive. Amidst it all, Invincible faced the greatest threat yet.
Each blow was thunderous, every impact seemed to shake the entire city, and Eve found herself increasingly worried.
Every time the Flaxans returned, they seemed more dangerous. This time they had gone further, and it seemed that Earth's time no longer affected them.
Their weapons were better, their tactics more advanced, and now, it seemed, they had their own super soldiers.
She didn't know how they would hold out, how they would win.
Another thunderous impact shook her body, and she looked with concern at Invincible.
She had to help him.
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Mark felt the air forcibly expelled from his lungs; he couldn't prevent saliva and blood from gushing from his mouth. His body sailed through the air uncontrollably; he quickly forced himself to stop and looked up only to see his vision meeting two giant fists about to strike him.
But before that happened, a pink energy field projected in front of him, blocking the blow for half a second. That was all Mark needed.
He clenched his fist with all his might, leaned forward, and then launched himself at full speed.
His fist met the head of one of the two giants, and abruptly, the head was torn from the body and sent flying into the sky.
The enormous body fell backward, and mark stood over him, his body somewhat wobbly.
He glanced at the remaining metallic giant, who took a step back with evident panic.
He turned to his left and saw Atom Eve approaching. At the same time, he glanced at the battlefield with a thoughtful look; this had gone too far; it was time to end it.
He wiped the blood from his face and smiled.
"Hey, I told you I'd protect this world no matter what, and I never break my promises" At Eve's confused look, Mark lunged forward, grabbed the remaining metal giant around the waist, and his body flew at full speed directly towards the nearest portal.
Eve's eyes widened, and a scream of panic escaped her mouth.
In the distant sky, Omni-Man was also surprised; without thinking, his figure became blurry, and he launched directly towards the battlefield.
Almost simultaneously, both of them crossed through the portal to the Flaxan world.
Then abruptly, all the portals began to close.
"Invincible!!!" Eve reached out her hand, but it was too late; he was gone.
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.
Mark crashed forcefully into what he assumed was the Flaxan command center. Without hesitation, he began dragging the giant in his hands, not caring about the damage he might cause around him.
Thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, of Flaxan troops began to attack him. There were over a hundred Flaxans with power armor launching towards him, and Mark was about to recite the Speed Force formula, but before he could do so, a streak of red and white easily pierced through the battlefield.
Omni-Man charged against the army of power-armored troops. His body tore through their armored bodies as if they were made of wet cardboard, his fist smashing anything in his path, and in less than a second, he was in front of Mark.
Mark forced himself not to smile when he saw him arrive.
"Are you okay, Mark?" His father seemed concerned, but not about the hundreds of thousands of troops surrounding them; that wasn't what bothered him.
Instead, he worried about his son's well-being. Mark swallowed hard; from the corner of his eye, he saw the portals closing and knew that his plan had succeeded.
He smiled confidently and replied.
"Better than ever."
.
.
.
Note:
Things never go according to plan, so of course, we should always have a plan B.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone