I returned to my own point of view, the confusion from the alley still fresh in my mind. That narrator... where the hell did he come from? I shook my head, trying to get rid of the strangeness. There were more important things to worry about.
The next day, at lunchtime, I was being a normal teenager.
"I swear, man, the last level of 'Galactic Commander 3' is impossible," Josh said, stuffing an impressive amount of fries into his mouth. "That boss has like three different attack patterns and there's no way to dodge the last one."
"You just need to memorize the timing," I replied, poking at my salad with a fork. "It's two quick attacks, a pause, and then the area-of-effect attack. You have to use the dash at the exact moment of the..."
My voice trailed off. Across the noisy cafeteria, I saw her. Eve. Samantha Eve Wilkins. She was laughing with some friends, her red hair shining under the fluorescent lights. In normal clothes, a t-shirt and jeans, she looked... different. More real. More...
"Mark? Hello? Earth to Mark Grayson?"
Josh's voice snapped me out of my trance. I blinked, turning to him. He had a mischievous grin on his face, following my gaze to Eve's table.
"Oh, I get it," he said, with the tone of someone discovering a big secret. "Damn, man. Finally over Amber, huh? You're drooling over Eve Wilkins like there's no tomorrow. I thought you were still in a slump."
"Shut up, Josh," I muttered, feeling my face heat up. "It's not like that."
"Sure it's not," he mocked. "You just went into a catatonic state staring at her."
I ignored him, getting up with my tray. "I'm just... going to talk to her. About physics class."
"Physics. Right," he said, laughing.
I walked to her table, my heart beating a little faster than normal. Her friends fell silent as I approached.
"Hey, Eve," I said, trying to sound casual. "Can I talk to you for a second?"
She seemed surprised, but nodded, getting up and moving a little away from the table with me.
"Hi, Mark. What's up?"
"About... uh... last week's 'extracurricular project'," I said, in a low voice.
She understood immediately. A small smile played on her lips. "Oh, right. The 'giant pest control' project. You did well, for a rookie."
"Thanks. I was thinking... since we're in the same 'club' now, maybe we should... I don't know, exchange some ideas. About the club's rules and stuff."
"Good idea," she agreed, her gaze serious for a moment. "Meet me after school, near the back court of the gym. Where there are fewer people. We can talk about the 'club activities'."
"Deal," I nodded, feeling a small victory. "See you there."
I turned and started walking away, feeling like the coolest guy in the world. My good mood lasted until Josh appeared by my side, sliding in like a shadow.
"Seriously, man? Eve Wilkins?" he whispered, incredulous. "She's in the jock league. I hate jocks. They always get the good girls."
I laughed. "Maybe you should spend more time in the gym and less time bothering other people, you lazy bum."
"And maybe you should spend less time daydreaming and more time in the real world, Romeo," he retorted, giving me a light shove.
"At least I have dreams," I shot back, pushing him back.
The shrill bell rang, cutting off our exchange of insults. The noise in the cafeteria grew as everyone started to move.
"Saved by the bell," said Josh, grabbing his backpack. "Let's go, or Mr. Hiles will give us another lecture on punctuality."
The rest of the school day was torture. Every minute felt like an hour, every class an eternity. When the final bell finally rang, I practically flew out of the classroom.
I found Eve waiting near the back court of the gym, as we had agreed. She was leaning against the brick wall, headphones in and a bored expression on her face.
"I thought you weren't coming," she said, taking off her headphones.
"And miss the club meeting? No way," I replied.
"Good. But not here." She started walking. "I know a better place."
She led me behind the football field, towards an old school maintenance shed that I barely knew existed, used to store gardening equipment and old sports gear. The metal door creaked as she opened it. The inside was dark and smelled of cut grass and old paint. The golden afternoon light streamed in through the dusty windows high up, illuminating old pommel horses and a forgotten lawnmower in a corner.
"Okay," she said, turning to me. "You can put on the suit."
I looked at her, then at the open space around us. "Uh... here? In front of you?"
She rolled her eyes, but a small smile appeared. "Relax, training-boy." With a wave of her hand, a translucent wall materialized between us, solid and opaque. "Better?"
I gaped for a second before recovering. "Yeah. Thanks."
I took the blue and yellow suit out of my backpack and put it on quickly. The mask molded to my face as if it were a second skin.
"Are you done, princess?" her voice came, muffled, from the other side of the barrier.
"You can look now!" I retorted.
The pink partition dissolved into particles of light and disappeared. Eve looked me up and down, a smile of approval on her face. "Okay, I have to admit. It's much better. Now you look like a real hero."
I felt my face heat up under the mask. "Thanks," I muttered, changing the subject. "Is it safe for us to... uh... leave from here?"
"It's as safe as anywhere else," she replied, and simply launched into the air, passing through one of the broken windows in the ceiling. "Come on!"
I took a deep breath, feeling a wave of adrenaline. Flying during the day, leaving from school... it was bold. I followed her into the open sky. We flew side by side, the wind whistling.
"It's incredible, isn't it?" she shouted over the wind. "How people just don't look up. You could fly over the whole city and ninety-nine percent of them wouldn't even notice."
"Hey, how do you do that?" I asked, trying to keep pace with her. "The suit, the partition?"
"Isn't it obvious from my name?"
"Yeah. I thought it was just a cool name, but maybe a bluff. I don't know how 'atoms' relate to creating pink energy constructs."
She laughed. "It's more literal than you think." She held out her empty hand. Particles of pink light gathered, swirling and solidifying until a perfect baseball, with seams and all, appeared out of nowhere. She tossed it to me. "I can manipulate matter at a subatomic level. I can rearrange atoms to turn anything into... well, almost anything else. As long as it's not living matter. The 'energy constructs' are just me manipulating the air molecules, compacting them until they're solid."
I caught the ball, the weight and texture were perfect. I looked at it, then at Eve. My brain was trying to process the scale of it. She can create anything? Gold? Diamonds? Food? Weapons? The limits of this power... are insane.
"Cool," was all I could say out loud.
"Yeah... cool," she repeated, but her tone was a bit melancholic. And then, she muttered to herself, almost inaudibly. "People with powers are different."
But I heard it. With the super-hearing I didn't even know I was using, I heard every syllable. "What do you mean, 'different'?" I asked. She looked at me, surprised. Damn. "Uh... sorry, I heard," I admitted.
She sighed, the smile fading. "When my powers manifested, my parents... they got scared. A friend of mine too. They didn't see it as something incredible. They saw it as something... wrong. Dangerous."
"Are you serious?" I asked, shocked. "But... why? Do your powers have some weird condition? Like, do they shorten your lifespan? Cause explosive diarrhea? Make your hair fall out in clumps? Give you an uncontrollable urge to eat chalk?"
Eve stared at me for a second, and then burst out laughing. A genuine, loud laugh that made my heart skip a beat. "No! No, why?" she managed to say between laughs.
"Then your parents and your friend are morons," I said, without thinking. "I mean, sorry! I didn't mean to call your parents morons," I corrected myself quickly. "But seriously! Your power is so cool! If I knew someone at 12 who could make hamburgers appear out of thin air, that person would be my best friend for life!"
Ah, young love! While our young heroes, Mark and Eve, discover the first glimpses of a new and powerful friendship, perhaps even something more, somewhere far away, in the cold, silent depths of space, a threat stirs! A threat of cosmic proportions!
Her name is Universa! Queen and sole survivor of a dying planet, a world consumed by its own ambition. With her Star Staff, a weapon of immeasurable power that is both her burden and her only hope, she travels the stars in search of one thing: energy! Energy to quench the insatiable hunger of her staff, energy to one day, perhaps, restore the glory of her lost kingdom, no matter the cost to the other worlds that stand in her way!
And now, her hungry gaze turns to a small, noisy blue planet... Earth! And on its surface, a beacon of power calls to her, a hearty meal for her staff: a nuclear power plant! She streaks through the atmosphere like a vengeful meteor, the warrior queen descends with a single purpose: to steal the planet's lifeblood and leave behind only a trail of destruction!
But let us leave this cosmic conqueror for a moment, for our story returns to our teenage heroes, oblivious to the approaching danger...
"Have you ever tried making ice cream?" I asked, curiosity getting the better of me.
She blinked, surprised by the question. "Ice cream? No, actually. What flavor?"
"Chocolate," I said, without hesitation. "Classic."
She smiled, holding out her hand. The air in front of her shimmered, and in seconds, a perfectly formed ice cream cone, with two scoops of creamy chocolate, materialized. She handed it to me. I took a lick. It was the best chocolate ice cream I had ever tasted.
"Awesome," I said, with my mouth full.
BOOM!
A low, distant sound of an explosion echoed through the sky. I looked in the direction of the noise, licking my ice cream.
"Wow," I commented. "Is it always this loud down here?"
"No," Eve replied, her amused expression replaced by a mask of focus. She threw away the ice cream cone she had made for herself and shot off in the direction of the smoke that was beginning to rise on the horizon.
"Hey! Waste of food!" I shouted, catching her cone in the air before it fell. For a second, I was there, floating in the sky with two ice creams in my hand. Wait a minute, I thought. She can make more at any time. With a sigh, I juggled to throw both cones away and flew after her, trying to catch up.
As I accelerated, a random but urgent thought crossed my mind.
Man, it's going to be really hard to get her a good present.
We arrived at the nuclear power plant in a blur of blue and pink. Chaos had already set in. Alarms were blaring, and black smoke was pouring out of a hole in the side of one of the containment buildings. The scene was one of pure destruction.
"The reactor is overloading! The core temperature is rising!" Eve shouted, her eyes glowing with pink energy as she analyzed the situation. "I'll handle this. Hold her off, Mark! Don't let her cause any more damage!"
"You got it!" I replied, the adrenaline already starting to take over.
I dived towards the hole in the wall. I entered the control room, which was in ruins. Computer panels were smashed, and armed guards were on the floor, groaning in pain. In the center of it all, was her: Universa. Tall, imposing, with her greenish skin and a staff that pulsed with a threatening energy. She was holding one of the engineers by the collar.
"The energy generated by this plant... it goes straight to the grid!" the man stammered, terrified. "We don't store it!"
"Fool!" Universa snarled, tossing him aside like a rag doll. "I have my own means of storing your energy!"
I took advantage of her distraction. I flew behind her, fast and silent, grabbed her ankles, and pulled her out of the control room through the same hole I came in. Ah, I thought, as I dragged her through the air, so this is why Dad finds this so funny.
She screamed in surprise and anger, turning in the air and firing a beam of energy from her staff. I let go of her legs at the last second, dodging the attack, and positioned myself between her and the plant, blocking the hole in the wall. She landed on the other side of the courtyard with a dangerous grace.
Seriously? My first major villain and I already have to deal with this? I thought, watching her. I remembered my father, a hero who had faced countless threats, men and women. I'm a firm believer that hitting women is wrong. But this... this is part of the job, isn't it? And I don't want to be sexist. I just didn't want to have to go through this crisis of conscience so early in my career.
"Look, I don't know your name..." I began, trying diplomacy one last time.
"I am Universa, worm! And this planet will feed my staff!"
"Right, Universa. You're at a power plant, I get it. You want energy, great! Have you ever thought of just asking for how much you need?! Maybe we can give it to you, wouldn't that be easier?"
Universa paused for a moment, her single eye staring at me with a mixture of contempt and amusement. She let out a short, bitter laugh.
"Give' me the energy, little worm?" she mocked. "My world is ten times the size of yours. The amount of power I need to prevent a global-scale extinction will drain this planet dry... and then I will move on to the next."
Her words hung in the air, heavy and final. There was no negotiation. It was her world or mine.
"Oh," I said, the naivete in my voice disappearing. "Okay, then." I took a fighting stance, my body bracing for impact. "I guess diplomacy has failed miserably. Let's fight now."
I lunged, aiming a punch at her shoulder, trying to use my father's lessons. She was faster than I expected. Much faster. Instead of blocking, she spun the staff with impressive speed, the cosmic weapon a blur of silver and light. The staff met my forearm with brutal precision. The sound of bone breaking was a dry, sickening CRACK, and the blinding white pain forced me to scream. The world tilted, but fury straightened me. I looked at my arm, hanging at an angle that defied anatomy.
"YOU... BITCH!" I roared, the pain turning into fuel.
I ignored the useless limb and launched myself at her, using my good shoulder as a battering ram. The impact was solid, and for the first time, I saw surprise on her face as she staggered back, a crack forming on her ornate helm. I took advantage of this imbalance, spinning my body and delivering a right hook with all the force I could muster. I punched her face with the force of a car, feeling the impact vibrate through my good arm. Her head snapped to the side with the force of the blow, and a trickle of blue blood ran from her lip.
For a moment, I exulted. I had hurt her.
But she was a warrior. The surprise on her face was replaced by a cruel, hungry smile. "You have strength, child," she hissed. "But strength without control is just noise!"
She responded with a speed I couldn't keep up with. The staff spun, not for a crushing blow, but for a series of quick, precise attacks. A strike to my leg threw me off balance in the air. Another to my chest stole my breath. I tried to fly up, to gain distance, but she was relentless.
She chased me through the sky, turning the fight into a deadly ballet among the plant's buildings. I was a runaway missile, fueled by pure fury; she was a spear, driven by centuries of experience. I shot towards her, but she used the staff to push off the wall of a reactor, dodging my attack and appearing behind me. Before I could turn, I felt the cold metal blow on my back, throwing me face-first into a steel catwalk, which bent with the impact.
"Your movements are wild! Predictable!" she shouted from above. "You fight like a cornered animal!"
"Then come and get the animal!" I provoked, getting up and spitting blood.
I used the destroyed catwalk as a platform and launched myself upwards. This time, I was smarter. I feinted to the left but used a burst of flight to attack from the right. I managed to land a punch to her ribs, and I heard a satisfying sound of her armor denting. She grunted in pain, and for a second, her guard dropped. I saw the opening. I flew up and came down like a meteor, my fist ready to end it.
It was a mistake. She was waiting for me.
At the last instant, she spun and hit me mid-air with the side of the staff. The blow caught me in the middle of my flight, and I felt the world spin uncontrollably. I lost all sense of direction, falling and bouncing like a stone on a cliff before being thrown with tremendous force against the asphalt. The ground opened up under me, forming a deep crater.
The dust settled. My entire body was a single, throbbing bruise. I tried to move, but my broken arm screamed in protest and my ribs felt like knives piercing my lung with every breath.
She landed softly a few feet away from me, the staff resting on her shoulder, without a single sign of fatigue. "Your rage is pathetic. It has exhausted you. And now, you have nothing left."
I got up with difficulty, my body trembling with effort and pain, my vision blurred at the edges. I was an idiot. I underestimated her, let my anger blind me, and played her game. Now, I was broken, exhausted.
In a last desperate effort, I gathered what was left of my strength and charged, a battle cry dying in my throat. She didn't even move to dodge. She just raised the staff, which glowed with an intense light. A blast of pure energy hit me square in the chest. The sensation was like being electrocuted and run over at the same time. I was thrown backward, through the debris of the plant wall, and landed in a pile of concrete and twisted metal.
Focus, Mark. Focus, a voice in my head, which sounded suspiciously like my father's, said. Don't let the bitch get to you. Anger makes you sloppy. I took a deep breath, the pain still pulsing. You promised to be better. You are strong. You are... Invincible.
The anger subsided, replaced by a desperate clarity. I couldn't beat her alone. Not like this. I needed to think.
"EVE!" I shouted with all the force of my lungs. "I'M GONNA NEED A LITTLE HELP HERE!"
I lay there, my body screaming, my vision blurred. Through the dust, I saw her approach, her silhouette cut against the sky. She walked slowly, savoring the victory. The staff raised for the final blow. I closed my eyes, waiting for the end.
But the blow never came.
Instead, I heard a strange sound, a high-pitched hum, and Universa's cry of frustration. I opened my eyes in time to see the concrete floor under her feet turn into a thick, pink mud, trapping her up to her knees. From the sky, Eve descended, not with fury, but with a focused calm, her hands glowing.
"I think your fight is with me now," said Eve.
Universa roared and tried to free herself, but the modified ground held her fast. With a war cry, she pointed her staff and fired a massive energy blast towards Eve.
As their fight began, a different battle was happening inside me. The pain in my broken arm, which was once a blinding white agony, began to subside, turning into a deep, warm pulse. I could almost feel my bones realigning, the muscle fibers reconnecting. The Viltrumite healing. It was slow, painful, but it was happening.
I raised my head, using my good arm for support, and watched the fight. It was different from anything I had ever seen. Universa was raw power. Every move she made was meant to obliterate, to destroy with overwhelming force. Eve, on the other hand, was an artist. She couldn't match Universa's strength, so she didn't try. She was smarter.
When Universa finally broke free from the mud trap and advanced, Eve didn't create a shield to block the attack. Instead, she gestured, and the air in front of her solidified, becoming a transparent, crystalline wall, harder than diamond. Universa's punch hit the barrier with a BOOM that made the ground tremble, but the wall didn't yield.
While Universa was momentarily off-balance, Eve counter-attacked. She didn't launch an energy beam. She pointed at Universa's armor, and pieces of the metal simply turned into harmless pink dust, exposing the green skin underneath.
I was amazed. She wasn't trying to beat her in strength. She was deconstructing her, piece by piece.
The pain in my ribs began to subside. I took a deep breath, and though it still hurt, the air filled my lungs.
The fight continued at this pace. Universa attacked with blind fury, and Eve responded with brilliant creativity. She turned the ground to ice to make Universa slip. She pulled rebar from the destroyed concrete to try to pin her arms. She wasn't winning, not really, but she was surviving. She was dancing around the warrior queen's raw power, frustrating her at every turn.
I felt the strength returning to my legs. With a groan of effort, I managed to stand. My broken arm still hurt like hell, but it was no longer useless. I could move it, feeling the newly-fused bones protest. I was far from one hundred percent, but maybe it was enough.
I saw Eve create dozens of small pink energy projectiles that buzzed around Universa like angry bees. The warrior queen focused on defending herself, spinning her staff to deflect the multiple attacks.
It was the opening I needed.
She was distracted. Focused on Eve. She wasn't seeing me.
With a cry that was part pain and part war cry, I charged, my body cutting through the air like a blue and yellow missile. Surprise, this time, was on my side.
With a cry that was part pain and part war cry, I charged, my body cutting through the air like a blue and yellow missile. Surprise, this time, was on my side. My lunge caught Universa completely off guard. My good fist slammed into the side of her head with the force of a thunderclap, knocking her sideways. Before she could recover, Eve acted, creating a pink energy scythe that hooked Universa's feet, bringing her to the ground with a thud that shook the earth.
"Not bad, training-boy!" Eve shouted from above.
"My name is Invincible!" I replied, a pained smile on my face.
Universa got up, roaring with fury. "Annoying insects!" she screamed, spinning her staff and releasing a 360-degree energy wave that forced us to retreat.
"Don't let her focus!" Eve commanded, her voice clear and tactical. "Attack from the flanks! I'll limit her movements!"
"Flanks, got it! It's like a video game boss!" I yelled back.
Eve dived, not to attack, but to touch the ground. The concrete under Universa's feet turned into a glowing pink quicksand, hindering her movements. As she struggled to stay upright, I charged from behind, delivering a flying knee to her back. She grunted and turned to me, the staff glowing.
She fired a beam, but Eve was faster. A translucent barrier materialized in front of the attack, absorbing the impact. I took advantage of the opening, flying over the barrier and delivering an uppercut that hit her square on the chin. Her head snapped back with the blow. For a moment, I thought I had knocked her out.
But she was tough. With a roar, she spun, the staff coming at me. I was too close to dodge completely. The blow hit me on the shoulder, throwing me to the side. The pain in my broken arm intensified, but adrenaline kept me in the air. Eve took advantage of her attention on me to create energy cuffs that pinned Universa's staff to her own body for a second.
"Now, Mark!" she shouted.
I flew towards her, but Universa broke the energy cuffs with sheer brute force. She saw me coming. This time, she didn't try to hit me. She reached out and grabbed my fluttering yellow cape, pulling with crushing force.
I felt the violent tug, expecting to be thrown back like a doll. But then, with a satisfying click, the safety clasps Art had installed came loose. The cape detached from my shoulders. Universa stood there, unbalanced by the pull that met no resistance, holding only a piece of yellow cloth, confusion written on her face.
It was the perfect opening. As she stared at the useless cape in her hand, I charged. I didn't aim for her. I aimed for the prize. My hands closed around the cold, alien metal of the Star Staff. With a violent pull, I ripped it from her hand.
"Fool!" she scoffed, instead of panicking. "You think you can just... take it? Only those chosen by the World-God can wield the Staff of Leadership!"
"This ends n-," I started to say, ignoring her warning.
But the staff had other ideas. As soon as I held it, a wave of pure, white energy exploded from it, enveloping my body. My muscles contracted, paralyzed. I screamed as an electric pain shot through every fiber of my being. I fell to the ground like a stone, unable to move, the staff rolling away.
From the ground, with blurred vision, I saw Eve creating a giant pink fist and delivering a single, devastating punch that knocked the now-vulnerable warrior queen out, leaving her unconscious on the ground.
Silence took over the destroyed plant courtyard. The adrenaline began to fade, and the pain from all my injuries returned with full force. My broken arm throbbed, my ribs protested with every breath. But, lying there, looking at the defeated villain, I couldn't help it. I started to laugh. A weak, pained laugh, but a genuine one.
"Suck it, Dad..." I muttered to the sky, between laughs. "The cape was useful."
Eve ran to me, kneeling by my side, her face full of concern. "Mark! Are you okay? Can you move?"
With a groan of effort, I forced my body to obey. Slowly, I got up, each movement a new discovery of pain. My new suit was torn and dirty, my body felt like it had been used as a punching bag. But I was standing.
I looked at her and gave my most confident smile. "Don't worry. This will heal up quick."
She looked at me, incredulous. "How can you be so sure?"
I winked, even though it hurt. "After all, I'm Invin-"
LOL