9: Choice

In the end, Cecil paid, actually paying more than he should, causing the buffet owner to almost kneel before him.

It was then that Cecil decided to leave quickly, leaving Mark with Allen.

"So now you have to go report, huh, I hope everything goes well"

Mark didn't know if he should warn him, should he say something? He decided to postpone it for now; he knew Allen would come again to warn him about the Viltrumite, that is, his father; that could be a good time to talk seriously and offer cooperation.

He didn't know how much time he had until that moment; he hoped it was enough. He really wanted to relax a bit; he had been under constant tension and training when he was in Flaxan.

"Yeah, it'll be a disaster, more than a decade going to the wrong place. I really hope they don't fire me for this"

Allen sighed, how was he going to explain this to the council?

"Well, if they fire you, you can come to Earth. We never turn down help; I'm sure Cecil will love covering your expenses"

Mark would have suggested hiring him himself, but on Earth, he was still an unemployed teenager... employed? Oh, he remembered Mark was supposed to have a job.

Well, at this point, they probably already fired him for missing so much...

"I'll keep that in mind, Well, it's time for me to go; I can't keep delaying this. I hope we meet again" Allen said goodbye and flew off. Mark watched him leave the planet before starting his journey to the Teen Team's hideout. It was almost time for his meeting with them.

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"So Mark took care of that guy, huh? It must have been easy"

Nolan took a sip of his coffee as he casually read the newspaper.

"As easy as simply talking to him, something I suppose you don't do often" Cecil said, frowning at him.

"What are you trying to say?"

Nolan lost some of his good humor and looked at Cecil seriously. Debbie quickly intervened to calm the waters.

"Come on, the important thing is that this won't be a problem anymore. Mark was able to handle it the best way possible, and now Earth has one less threat"

Cecil nodded. "Mark has proven to be quite capable so far. It's good that it's like that. With the Guardians gone, we need all the help we can get. And speaking of help, I'd like to know where you were when those green aliens invaded New York"

Nolan furrowed his brows at the accusatory tone.

"I was saving people as I always do. The world is too big, Cecil, you should know that by now. With the Guardians out of the picture, I have a lot more work than before"

Both men looked at each other, clearly the trust built over the years was starting to waver.

In the end, Cecil relented. It wasn't the time to be too confrontational, not yet.

"You're right, I'm sorry. I'm just too stressed out. Without the Guardians on Earth, things have become much harder"

Nolan smiled. "Don't worry, with me and Mark here, everything will be fine"

Cecil didn't respond to that; he turned ready to leave but stopped to say something else.

"The official announcement will be soon. The public funeral will be two days after. I hope I can count on you"

Nolan's smile faded, and he remained silent for a moment before responding, "Of course"

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"So that's when we managed to open a portal back and returned" Mark finished enthusiastically.

The Teen Team fell silent for a moment before Rex spoke up loudly.

"That was freaking awesome, buddy! Man, I wish I'd gone with you now" he began, regretting not jumping into a portal when he had the chance.

The story that Mark had crafted with his father seemed more like an action novel than an actual event, but when you're a superhero, anything you do goes beyond reality. No one would accuse you of lying as long as the story was coherent and consistent.

"That was dangerous. If Invincible hadn't convinced the other Flaxan slaves to rebel, he could have been trapped there forever" Eve scolded Rex. She wasn't exactly pleased with the whole affair.

When they met again, she looked relieved at first, but then she became angry. She scolded him for his reckless act, and Mark had to assure her that everything was fine to calm her down.

"The important thing now is that Flaxan won't be a threat anymore" Robot said, regardless of whether Invincible's actions were dangerous or not. He was back and had solved the invader problem. That was all that mattered.

"I'll inform the army and Cecil so they can withdraw their troops, and the city can return to normalcy"

Oh, of course, Mark had forgotten that they had to evacuate. It was truly a big deal what happened, but now everything could go back to its place, for the most part. The construction companies would have a field day with all the damage caused, even though the fight didn't last too long.

"Invincible, Cecil has told me that the Guardians' funeral will be in a few days. After that, the formation of a new group will begin. I would like to know if you want to participate in the tests to join"

At Robot's offer, Mark simply nodded.

"Sure, I'll be there when the time comes"

He wasn't sure if he really wanted to join a team, but getting to know other heroes and their abilities was never a bad idea.

At least he could get an idea of the firepower Earth had.

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The trip home was quiet; he landed in his backyard and went inside, ready to take a bath and relax a bit.

"Hey Mark" his mother's voice made him pause. He watched as she came out of the kitchen and greeted him.

Mark returned the greeting; it was still strange to talk to her, especially now when memories of the original Mark haunted him from time to time.

"The principal called; classes resume tomorrow, so make sure not to stay up too late" Debbie said.

Mark blinked, taken by surprise.

"So soon? I thought they would be suspended for longer, I mean, there was an alien invasion and all that"

Debbie raised an eyebrow, obviously with some doubt in her expression.

"Mark, there's an alien invasion at least once a month; classes won't stop because of that"

It was then that Mark remembered that this was not his old world; normal and abnormal were not the same.

"Uh, sure, you're right, I'll go to bed early,"

He started climbing the stairs to go to his room, but his mother stopped him once more.

"Wait, Mark"

"What's up?" he turned to look at her, noticing a worried expression on her face.

"It's about your father; he's been acting a bit strange. I know you just came back from another dimension and all, but there's something about him... different. Did something happen that I should know about?"

Normally, Debbie wouldn't ask her son something like that, but Mark wasn't the same child as before. Since he awakened his powers, he had shown to be more mature and responsible, and since he had gone with Nolan, maybe he could have an idea of what was going on with his father.

Mark thought about it for a moment before waving his hand and playing it down.

"I think it's just stress; the whole thing with the Guardians must be weighing on him. He'll probably go back to normal once everything calms down"

Debbie looked at him for a moment before nodding. "You're probably right; it must be that" she returned to the kitchen, and Mark watched her go before sighing and continuing up the stairs.

Inside, he apologized to her, but telling her the truth wouldn't serve any purpose; she couldn't help, and he didn't want to involve her. Whatever choice Nolan made was something he had to deal with.

Mark wasn't stupid; spending so much time with the man had helped him understand him a bit. He could see the doubts in his eyes, how he questioned himself and his actions.

If Nolan decided to give up on his plan to conquer Earth, it would be for the best.

If he didn't? Well, right now Mark was sure of one thing.

He now had the strength to kill him.

Flaxan had given him a valuable lesson, and he wouldn't make the same mistake again.

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Classes, school, Mark was starting to regret not using the Flaxan invasion as an excuse to demolish the place.

"So they said, why don't we move to Texas? Texas!? I mean, I have nothing against the place, but..." William had been chattering away as he supposed was usual for him. Mark didn't really know how to politely tell him to shut up.

How do you tell someone, hey, we should stop talking?

As he walked to his locker, he couldn't help but pull out his phone and search through his notes for the combination. He had tried to memorize it before, but with all the time in Flaxan, he had forgotten it again. Fortunately, he had written down some things, and among them, the combination to his locker was one of the most basic.

"So what do you think?" at the question, Mark looked back at William, blinking, thinking about how he should respond since he had been ignoring most of what he said.

Then he saw a familiar redhead in the distance and decided on an escape plan.

"I think I have something important to do; see you later, Will"

Without hesitation, he began to walk away, leaving William behind with clear annoyance on his face.

"My name isn't Will!" he hated being called that.

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Mark didn't have much to say about Eve; on the show, she was a character he liked, but in his current situation, she was more important for several reasons.

Her powers were simply too useful in many ways, so he needed to have her on his side in one way or another. He supposed that's what his past self thought with his trick of the Plan B or something like that.

"Hey, Eve, good to see you around"

Eve closed her locker and turned to look at him with a raised eyebrow; her confusion was evident, and Mark approached a bit to whisper to her.

"It's me, Invincible" she opened her eyes in recognition; he guessed his mask was more useful than he gave it credit for.

"Hey! I didn't expect us to go to the same school, we even share the same biology class" she smiled, clearly happy about the encounter.

"Do you want to have lunch together?" he invited; he preferred talking to a cute girl over having to listen to Will's incessant chatter, no offense to the guy.

"Come on, I heard they're serving burgers today"

That just made it even better.

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"This sucks" Mark looked at the hamburger, which only had a thin piece of meat, no lettuce or pickles, and a strangely shaped bun.

"I guess they ran out of budget" Eve looked at Mark, making a strange face at her hamburger, and she couldn't help but laugh.

She reached out; the pink light shone for a moment, and then the hamburger quickly transformed into something a thousand times better at first glance.

Without hesitation, he took a bite; it tasted excellent.

"From now on, you're my favorite member of the Teen Team, but don't tell others"

He gave her a thumbs-up; Eve smiled and transformed her own hamburger into something better.

Both of them were on the school rooftop; it wasn't difficult for them to get there after passing through the cafeteria.

As they ate, Eve's phone suddenly rang; she quickly answered.

"What's up, Robot?"

Mark became interested upon hearing the name; had something important happened?

"Really? I'll be there right away! I'll bring Invincible with me" Eve hung up, turned the rest of her hamburger into air, and prepared to leave.

Mark had already finished his and simply finished chewing before getting up too.

"What's going on?" at his question, Eve took him by the arm and began to drag him along while explaining.

"Remember the missing students? Someone had been turning them into human bombs; Robot helped me, and now we know who's responsible"

Mark blinked in confusion but started hurrying as well; he had completely forgotten about that issue.

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Nolan gazed at the Arctic landscape before him, lost in thought. He had reached deep into Norway and sat atop a mountain peak to reflect.

There were many things to ponder; Flaxan had given him time, time he hadn't believed he'd have.

Despite that, it didn't make his choice any easier.

He felt like he was between a rock and a hard place. On one hand, there was his people, The empire, for which he had fought all his life. On the other side was his family, his son, his home, the Earth.

His wife.

If this were an impossible struggle, Nolan wouldn't be pondering too much. If the empire were still what it once was, what it still appeared to be, then there would be no debate.

No matter how strong Nolan or Mark were, winning against an empire with billions of Viltrumite troops was impossible.

But the empire no longer had billions of troops, and that's why Nolan hesitated.

Because maybe, just maybe, there was a chance, not to defeat the empire, but perhaps to convince them, to make them allow him to treat Earth differently.

Mark was strong now. If it were just Nolan, it would be difficult, but if he and Mark could prove their worth, then things might change.

And if the empire didn't accept their demands?

Nolan looked at his hand, the same hand with which he had exterminated entire species, destroyed ancient civilizations, faced gods and demons.

He clenched his fist, thought about his time on Earth, about Mark and the humans.

He made a decision. It was difficult, extremely difficult. But now he knew what he had to do.

"I need to talk to Mark"

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Mark was beginning to think he wouldn't have any peaceful days. He flew through the air at maximum speed and without hesitation, grabbed the suicide bomber in his hands and threw him into space.

The sky lit up with the glow of an explosion before being shrouded in black clouds.

"Well, at least that's one less problem"

Eve didn't take long to arrive at his side; she looked at the clouds of black smoke and sighed.

"I didn't expect Professor Hiles to end like this"

Mark looked at her and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, don't mourn him. He was just a resentful psychopath lashing out at innocent people. This is just the fruit of his actions"

Eve looked at the trail of smoke one last time before nodding.

"Yeah, you're right... Come on, let's go back and make sure he didn't leave another surprise for us"

They both returned to Professor Hiles' house; the guy really had his evil lair in his basement. Mark and Samantha inspected the place, but everything seemed to be in order, if you didn't count the unconscious student with a bomb strapped to his chest.

Mark inspected the device; it was pretty bad. Professor Hiles had really decided to kill this guy. The bomb was deeply embedded in his body, and although Mark wasn't a doctor, he still understood enough about technology to see that it was impossible to return him to normalcy. Still, it was necessary to remove the bomb, even if it seemed inactive for now.

He looked at Eve. "Uh, this might be a strange question, but can you do more than just food?"

Eve raised an eyebrow. "What do you need?"

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When Robot and the rest of the Teen Team arrived, the police had already cordoned off the area, and paramedics were taking the unconscious student away. Robot approached the teenager to inspect the device that had replaced his torso, noticing that the bomb in him had been skillfully removed.

He looked at the paramedic who was attending to the young man and asked "Can I know who removed the explosive?" The paramedic looked at him and pointed towards Mark, who was chatting with Eve and Rex in what seemed like a small argument.

"Oh, so you guys go to the same school?! That's a surprise!. Let me guess, you're in the same class too, right?!" His accusatory tone was amusing but Mark did nothing to clear up the misunderstanding, if the guy couldn't trust his girlfriend it was his problem.

"Yeah, we actually study biology together" he said with a smile, which Rex didn't seem to take well as he seemed to misunderstand his words even more.

He approached Mark briskly, looking him straight in the face.

"Listen, friend, you—" he was cut off by Eve, who pushed him back.

"Enough Rex this is not the time for stupid discussions"

Mark watched them argue from the sidelines with no intention of intervening. It was then that he noticed Robot coming in his direction and decided it was best for Eve to handle her problems with Rex herself.

"Hey, Robot, how's everything going?" he greeted the android as he approached him.

"I heard it was you who removed the explosive device from the victim's body. It was well done; I didn't expect you to have that ability" Robot said, straightforward as always. But this was good; Mark had been thinking about how to get some resources to make some of his ideas a reality, and Robot could be useful in this regard.

"I had a lot of time to learn. Flaxan stole a lot of knowledge from other dimensions and kidnapped many scientists from other worlds. I simply took advantage of my time there to acquire a few skills from them. Maybe I could share some of that with you, and you could teach me more about Earth's technology" he said amiably.

Robot was silent for a moment before responding.

"I would be delighted"

They shook hands.

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In the end, Mark and Eve had to return to school; they still had classes.

He said goodbye to her since, apart from biology, they didn't have any other classes together. He watched her leave and began to make his way to his own class.

He had agreed to meet with Robot in a few days to discuss technology. This was an important step in advancing some of his long-term plans. Currently, he wasn't in a hurry. His training in Flaxan had proven very useful, and with his current strength plus the Speed Force, he had no doubts he could face Omni-Man without the risk of dying.

It seemed like yesterday when he was still afraid of his father and his strength, but now that was behind him. That feeling of imminent danger was still there but to a much lesser extent and directed elsewhere.

Now, he had to prepare to face the Viltrum Empire and any other danger that might threaten Earth. But that seemed a bit distant right now. He couldn't remember exact dates, so he couldn't estimate anything. Still, he felt he had a decent amount of time to work with.

For now, he just had to make sure Earth was safe and relax a little.

"Hey, Mark" speaking of relaxing.

A short-haired blonde appeared out of nowhere to greet him. Mark looked at her; he would say he was surprised to see her, but he had heard her breathing while she hid in the hallway corner while he said goodbye to Eve.

He didn't think he'd have a stalker, but he didn't complain.

"Hey, Amber" he greeted casually. The blonde girl looked at him and then where Eve had gone.

"I didn't think you were dating Eve. Is that why you haven't called me?" she asked casually and cheerfully, but Mark could see the nervousness in her.

"Nah, she's just a friend. I've just been a little busy, but I recently realized I have some free time" he approached her.

"What do you say? Want to grab something to eat after school?" If life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Since a pretty girl came looking for him, he wasn't going to waste it.

After all, the only reason he had been training so hard and worrying so much about his life was because he loved living, every aspect of it, and that included going out with girls.

Pretty girls.

"Is that an invitation for a date?" Amber asked, looking more excited than Mark expected.

He laughed and replied "Only if there's a kiss at the end"

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Important Note:

This chapter comes in advance thanks to Anonymous (yes, that's literally their name on Ko-fi) who decided to donate $50 usd out of nowhere, without asking for anything in return. On the other hand, I also have to thank, because they are in no way less important, the two people who decided to subscribe monthly on Ko-fi (I didn't even know I had that option activated on Ko-fi). Danny N and Awpanda 1, thank you very much for your support!

One of them decided that my writings were worth enough to subscribe for $20 usd monthly... not to mention all the other people who have been giving one-time donations.

I am pleasantly surprised by all the support. For those who decided to subscribe monthly, this chapter should have reached you before being published. From now on, I will do my best to have chapters in advance for you. For May, I hope to have two chapters weekly in advance for Ko-fi donors (if all goes well).

That being said, I also hope to have a weekly update schedule and leave behind the inconsistent updates. (I don't know how long it will take me to achieve this without affecting my work, but I hope to do it).

Moreover, if this continues going well, I might have enough time to create original illustrations of the characters, which will also be available in advance on Ko-fi. The advantage of being your own illustrator! :D

Additionally, I hope to bring more benefits to show my gratitude for your support. I'm still new to this, so I appreciate your patience and support on this journey.

Final note: all advance chapters will be sent at least twelve hours or one day before being published.

If you are interested in supporting me a little you can do so on my Ko-fi /Emmapress.