Capítulo 3: 3: Invincible
3: Invincible
"Look, Dad!"
The boy ran over, smiling happily, holding a childlike drawing in his hands.
The man stopped writing and turned to look at his son, taking the paper in his hands and chuckling.
"And who's this?" On the paper, there was a rough figure dressed in red and white with a waving cape.
"Duh, it's you!"
Ding!!!
Mark opened his eyes in confusion, his hand shot out, shattering the alarm clock next to his bed into pieces.
He looked at the mess he had made, frowning.
"What was that?" That scene felt vivid, as if it were part of his memories.
But it couldn't be, his father, his real father, had disappeared when he was young, leaving a wife and two children to fend for themselves.
Remembering the dream as best as he could, he realized something else, that drawing...
"Are you ready?" The voice caught his attention, and when he looked up, he saw Nolan dressed in his Omni-Man suit leaning against the doorway of his room.
His familiar figure made something click in Mark's mind.
'Ah, so they're finally arriving...' He didn't know if this was a good thing or not.
But thinking about it now wouldn't do any good, it's not like he could do anything to stop it. If the memories of the original Mark are still there, somewhere in his brain, there's no getting rid of them.
Not unless he was willing to fuck with his own head and that was a big no.
He got out of bed and stretched his arms, looking at his father and smiling.
"I'm always ready"
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"Ugh!"
Mark rolled across the ground for dozens of meters before crashing into a huge rock. The rock cracked and shattered but helped to slow his uncontrollable movement.
He got up from the debris, displacing tons of fallen rocks. The weight was insignificant for his body, and crashing into the rock hadn't hurt.
What hurt was the blow Nolan had delivered.
He touched his face, feeling the blood dripping. It seemed like he had a broken nose.
Nolan descended from the sky and looked at his battered state with some concern, but almost as quickly as the concern came, it was crushed with determination. Mark needed this; his son was improving rapidly, and indulging him would only limit him.
But... A break wouldn't hurt.
"Come on, Mark, let's grab something to eat" Mark was about to refuse the offer, but his stomach reminded him that even as a Viltrumite, he still needed sustenance, especially after hours of being battered from side to side.
Soon they arrived under the shade of some trees, and his father unpacked the lunch their mother had made for them.
"You're quite agile. You've improved a lot with your flying"
At his father's words, Mark nodded. Ever since he got the Speed Force, even if he didn't actively use it, he felt like something changed in his perception.
The way he perceived things was different now.
More precisely in the movements. This allowed him to maneuver better when moving at high speeds, although when he slowed down, this perception seemed to diminish.
He supposed it was to be expected; staying still or moving slowly was the opposite of what the Speed Force represented.
His understanding of the cosmic power was still in its infancy, but now he seemed to understand some things that he hadn't before. Even with a weak connection, Mark was beginning to grasp the mysteries of speed.
To respond to his father, Mark nodded and said, "The training has served me well. After every beating you give me, I feel stronger" This wasn't entirely a lie.
While the Speed Force was giving him some unexpected benefits, it was undeniable that fighting against Omni-Man was also helping.
Since he arrived in this world, almost a week had passed, and every day he had received a beating.
He hadn't gone to school during this time; somehow, he had convinced his mother that he needed to learn to control his powers or he would be a threat to his classmates. His father naturally supported him, and together they managed to get her to agree to call in a week of sick leave, claiming that Mark was ill.
But soon he would have to go back. He was fortunate that even being beaten every day, no marks or scars were visible on his body.
A normal human would have persistent pains for days from a well-placed blow, but he, as a Viltrumite, seemed to be able to take any kind of punishment and be perfectly fine with a proper night's rest.
If he remembered correctly, the original Mark had recovered from having his stomach slashed open by that strange cat/lion man.
And he had done it in days.
He didn't know how strong a Viltrumite's healing ability was, but it certainly seemed quite strong.
"It's natural. Listen, Mark, we Viltrumites have an adaptation capacity beyond any other species in the universe. Viltrumite DNA is so robust that it can self-repair from almost any damage. Naturally, this means that our strength grows when facing high-stress situations. Many species can do this to a lesser extent, like humans, for example. But what sets us apart from them is that their bodies have limits. Their self-healing capacity is slow and inefficient on its own, and over time, small injuries accumulate in their bodies, unlike us; they never fully heal"
As his father explained, Mark paid attention. as now he was a viltrumite, understanding his anatomy and biological functioning was important if he wanted to become stronger.
"Human beings can adapt to extreme situations over time, but this remains dangerous for them. In the end, whether they can survive or not depends on their physical and mental state. Illness and old age, all these things are barriers that limit them, just like all other species in the universe"
When speaking of all the other races in the universe, Mark could see the disdain in his father's eyes.
"But we Viltrumites have none of those disadvantages. We're always at our best. Aging only makes us stronger, and diseases are nonexistent for us. Our bodies can quickly adapt to any environment, feed on any kind of food, and breathe any kind of gas as long as it has a minimum percentage of oxygen." The more he spoke, the more excited and proud he seemed.
"Injuries that would be fatal for any other species are mere annoyances for us. As long as your heart and brain aren't completely destroyed, you won't die, so you don't have to worry about being hurt, because every time you are, you'll come back stronger"
His hand touched Mark's shoulder, and with a smile, he said, "You truly are invincible now, son"
His words carried a lot of confidence, and Mark had to force a smile he didn't feel.
A Viltrumite sounded quite incredible... until another Viltrumite entered the equation.
Still, everything his father said gave him a lot to think about. He had no reason to lie to him, and someone who had lived for thousands of years must know their own species' capabilities quite well.
If everything was true, then his body had much more potential than he initially believed.
Healing quickly from any injury without suffering consequences... Maybe not super regeneration, but it was pretty close.
"As long as the brain and heart aren't completely destroyed, huh..."
Glancing at his father out of the corner of his eye, Mark decided to remember this as something important. He would need it in the future.
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"How does it feel?" at the question, Mark made a few more movements before nodding with satisfaction.
"Like a second skin" He clenched his fists, looking at the mirror in front of him, unable to help but nod in satisfaction. Somehow, wearing a tight suit felt even more incredible than he had thought.
The blue and black colors suited him well. The suit didn't differ much from his memories, except for one thing: the goggles covering his face were slightly different. It was just a design change; whereas before they seemed to have insect-like eyes, now they simply looked like modified motocross goggles. They weren't exactly the same, but it was enough.
"Thanks, Art. Your work is amazing" He looked at the man with a smile; he was certainly good at what he did.
"Your design helped a lot. I just had to do the manual work. Come on, go ahead and try it out. I know you're itching to get out there" Art pointed to the exit, and Mark didn't argue. He quickly flew out, leaving a small gust of wind behind.
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A sonic boom was followed by another and another. Mark increased his speed as he maneuvered through the air in the skies of New York City.
Flying had become much easier and more natural; he could easily change direction, accelerate, turn, and stop at any moment.
He reached the top of a building and waited. If he had calculated correctly, the moment Art finished his suit should also be the moment when that guy with the laser arm showed up.
Of course, it might be that giving Art a pre-made design made him finish earlier, so he might be waiting for nothing.
But when he saw the red beam of light shooting towards the building where he stood, he knew he had been lucky—or perhaps it was just the universe conspiring against him.
"All right, Art, I hope your suits really are 'indestructible.'"
Accelerating at maximum speed, he arrived in front of the energy beam. He watched it approach him and clenched his fist, then struck it.
Fist and laser beam met head-on, the shockwave spreading quickly, and the energy beam exploded in the air.
Mark shook his hand; there was a slight tingle, but nothing that was really a problem.
The suit wasn't destroyed, which was good. He looked at the second energy beam and quickly intercepted it in the same way as the first.
Then he flew at great speed towards the perpetrator, who was looking in his direction after noticing his energy beams had been interrupted.
He aimed his laser arm at him, but his recharge time was really slow, at least for Mark.
He arrived in front of him instantly, and his fist met the barrel of his weapon; the energy beam hadn't had time to fire before it was hit back to where it came from, the explosion engulfing them both. Mark stretched his arm, grabbing the enemy by the neck before he was sent flying.
The smoke filled the street, but Mark only needed to wave his hand to clear the place.
He looked at the guy he was holding; his entire laser arm had exploded up to his shoulder, and he seemed to have second and third-degree burns.
That would probably leave a scar.
"Ugh" a groan escaped, and Mark was honestly surprised; he didn't expect the guy to still be conscious.
He looked at the police officers staring at him in astonishment and smiled, waving his hand and dropping the villain at their feet.
"He's all yours, guys"
The police wasted no time; with so many heroes around, it was common for them to be helped from time to time, although seeing a new face was always surprising.
Even more so when he seemed to be quite strong.
"You're new. What's your name?" One of the police officers approached him and extended his hand.
Mark smiled and shook his hand.
"Just call me Invincible"
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"What's the emergency?" Immortal entered the base of the Guardians of the Globe with some haste. A call for emergency always meant big trouble for Earth, meaning big problems they had to resolve.
"Aren't you the one who should tell us? You're the last one to arrive. We thought you summoned us" Red Rush said, with obvious doubt in his tone, while Darkwing frowned, looking around cautiously.
Before anyone could react, Red Rush crashed into Aquarus. Their heads collided with such force that their skulls exploded, blood and gray matter raining down, leaving the entire team of heroes gaping in shock.
Immortal's eyes widened, on the verge of shouting orders, but before he could do so, Green Ghost and War Woman met their end. The former's head flew off, and the latter's neck snapped abruptly, the sound of their bones crunching echoing in Immortal's ears.
It was swift, swifter than any of them could predict, even Red Rush was caught off guard.
Martian Man and Dark Wing couldn't even say anything before their bodies fell, and Immortal took several steps back, panic beginning to flood him.
"Show yourself! Let me see who you are!" he shouted, looking around unwilling to be caught off guard like the others. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw it.
And fury engulfed him.
"You! I never liked you!" Then his head was severed.
Silence reigned in the place for a moment, then Omni-Man walked over to Immortal's corpse, the mockery clear on his face.
"The feeling's mutual" he taunted.
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Note:
One more chapter to thank for the support, but I'll soon slow down a bit. Work calls, and unfortunately, I need to eat, so you'll have to wait a little. I'll also take advantage of this time to think about what's next and how to structure the story. I know I said I want to use this to practice my NSFW writing, but since I've never done NSFW before, I'm not exactly sure how to start such scenes.
So, I apologize in advance if the quality isn't what's expected once the time comes.
I hope to improve as this progresses!
And for those who didn't notice... this isn't just "Invincible" TV show... the comics are here too...
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