Clark flew to the forest near his house. After he'd landed, he changed back into his real body. There was no emergency, it wasn't worth the risk to fly directly home and get spotted by a nosy neighbour.
He arrived to the front door just as his dad's car pulled into the driveway. David leaped out of the car immediately and rushed towards his son.
"Are you hurt? Are you okay?" David asked worriedly. He frantically pulled up Clark's sleeves, checking for bruises or injuries.
Clark grabbed his father's hands and held them tightly, "Dad, I'm okay. I'm not injured. You left the engine on."
David exhaled a heavy sigh of relief. The trembling in his hands eased.
"We're home!" Clark called out as he stepped into the house.
Olivia barrelled into her son and hugged him tightly. She'd been pacing by the door ever since Clark had left, "Honey, you're back! Are you okay?"
Olivia raised her hands to Clark's face and hurriedly began searching his skin for injuries. For the second time in less than five minutes, Clark grabbed a parent's hands and reassured them that he was completely fine.
The family of three settled down on the sofas in the lounge. Clark had one to himself, and his parents shared. No one in the house felt like cooking. After a short debate, they decided to get takeaway from the nearby chinese restaurant.
Clark faced a thorough interrogation from both parents about the battle. He didn't particularly feel like talking about it, but he knew that they needed to hear what had happened. If he didn't tell them, the fearful look in their eyes would just linger until tomorrow morning.
After Clark had spent nearly a half hour explaining every detail, the room finally fell silent. The takeaway was a couple minutes away.
"They left a card, the agents. They said you could call, if you ever wanted to do more." Olivia said suddenly.
She took a silver card out of her pocket and placed it on the table.
"Do you want to? To do more?" Olivia asked.
Clark looked down at his socks. The second battle against the invading aliens had confirmed the feeling in his heart. Somehow, by some mysterious hand of fate, he'd developed superhuman powers. He couldn't just sit by while people got hurt, not when he had the ability to help them.
"Yeah, I do." He answered quietly.
Olivia squeezed David's hand tightly. She felt terrified for the dangers Clark might face because of his choice. At the same time, she felt prouder of him than ever.
"Okay." She said simply.
"We support you Clark, always." David said.
Ding-dong!
The heartfelt moment was interrupted by the doorbell. Clark got up and went to answer it. He took the steaming bag from the driver and handed them a few dollars of tip.
Olivia set the table, and David poured water and fetched some extra bowls from the garage. They sat down to an ordinary dinner.
Clark filled his plate with egg-fried rice and orange chicken. He ate with a frantic kind of teenage energy, as if he was scared that his plate might suddenly be snatched away from him.
Olivia couldn't help but laugh as she watched her son eat. So much in their lives was changing. Amidst these changes, some things still remained the same.
When he switched into those other bodies, she sometimes felt like she could no longer recognise the person inside them. But when he was himself, the real him, she still saw the son that she'd loved and adored for all his life.
At the dinner table, the family of three discussed normal things. David talked about unreasonable clients from his work, and Olivia shared what she'd been told by one of their neighbours down the street. The only talk of anything superhuman was when Clark occasionally brought up some funny story to do with his powers.
After the meal was finished, Clark washed up the plates and bowls they'd used and tossed the takeaway containers into the trash. He said good night to his parents then headed to the forest.
The sun was beginning to set. Clark changed into Invincible and used his super hearing to confirm that he was alone. He then flew up onto a high branch. Then, he switched back to his real body.
He felt the wind on his face. It was cold, and moisture was creeping into the air. He was more than twenty feet high, if he fell, he'd be lucky to escape with just a broken arm. He didn't feel invulnerable like he did when he used Invincible's body.
"Crazy day." Clark mumbled to himself.
He didn't train as Atom-Eve or Invincible tonight, he just sat quietly on the branch, listening to the wind and the fading birdsong. Alone, out in nature, he always felt like the real him was enough. He felt the same way when he was at home with his family.
After an hour, when he was just starting to shiver, Clark changed back into Invincible. He flew down to the ground before switching back to his own body.
While he walked home, Clark thought about all the ways his life had changed.
He wasn't sure if he still wanted to go to college anymore. There were so many people who needed his help. When his dad had almost died, he'd realised that everyone was special to someone. He had a duty to make the world safe for people like his parents.
He now also had a small collection of bodies he could change into; Invincible, Atom-Eve, Dupli-Kate, Rex-Splode. He could even chose to become one of the green-skinned aliens, he'd copied thousands of them.
Clark had little interest in Dupli-Kate's or Rex-Splode's powers. Both of them had relatively simple abilities, that didn't even make them 1% as strong as Invincible or Atom-Eve. There was no point practicing how to be an ant, when he could spend that time mastering the powers of gods instead.
When he got home, Clark showered and brushed his teeth. He sighed contently as he slipped under his duvet. He didn't feel any guilt about the thousands of aliens he'd killed. They'd come to earth with the intention to invade and immediately begun slaughtering civillians, they deserved their fates.
The next few days fell into a steady, ordinary rythm. Clark went to school, chatted with his friends and ate dinner with his parents. The silver business card from the GDA was tucked away in a drawer in his room. In the evenings, and before school, he dissapeared off to the forest to practice with his powers.
The gap between him and Invincible was relatively small. Invincible's superhuman body was the source of his abilities. All he had to do was move his arms and legs, or will his position in space to shift.
It was a different story with Atom-Eve. Her strength didn't stem from just raw power. In order to rearrange molecular arrangements, she needed knowledge and understanding. Clark's grades in chemistry had been skyrocketing as a result of his newly found passion for atoms. He actually found it enjoyable to turn the pages in his textbook.
On an ordinary wednesday morning, the normal rythm of Clark's life crumbled to pieces. When he got back from his early morning practice, his parents were both waiting for him at the door.
They led him into the lounge and showed him the news that was captivating the whole world.
The Guardians of The Globe were dead. They'd been killed in a sudden, violent attack. Goverments across the world put out official statements that the attacker, or attackers, would be swiftly brought to justice.
"How could this happen?" Olivia whispered.
The Guardians were earth's protectors. There wasn't a person on the planet who didn't know who they were. They operated outside of international laws. If there was an emergency, they were there.
Clark watched the news play. His eyes didn't leave the screen. His thoughts took a completely different direction to his parents.
'The Guardians were earth's strongest warriors. If someone could kill them, and put Omni-Man into the hospital, how strong must they be?' Clark thought to himself.
His powers gave him the opportunity to make the world a safer place. When he changed into Invincible, he felt like nothing could harm him. All of the attacks that the invading aliens had thrown at him hadn't even left a bruise.
The violent deaths of the Guardians shattered his belief that he could protect himself from the dangerous world he lived in.
Clark glanced across from the TV to his parents. Neither of them saw noticed the glance, or the complex emotions that flashed in his eyes. They were completely focused on the broadcast.
'I have to protect them.'
If he, with all his powers, chose to hide away in fear, what kind of life did that mean for his parents? Bullets wouldn't flatten against their skin like it did against his. They couldn't turn falling debris into feathers.
He thought of the silver card in his room. Despite the danger, despite his fear, he knew that he needed to call the number.
David tore his attention away from the screen. He turned to Clark, "Uh kiddo, they're giving everyone the day off school, to mourn The Guardians' passing."
Clark nodded, "Thanks. I'll be in my room."
Olivia heard the weight behind his voice. She watched as he walked up the stairs. She wanted to say something, to tell him that it would all be alright. But she didn't know how to.
David squeezed her hand, "He'll be okay."
Olivia sighed, she smiled tiredly. Lately, the whole world had felt like she was strapped into a rollercoaster that she'd never asked to ride, "Yeah, he'll be okay."
A notification pinged on Olivia's phone. She took it out of her pocket and unlocked it. Her eyes widened as she read.
David looked over to see what had caused such an intense reaction. The headline of the article on Olivia's phone immediately told him what had happened.
"Should we tell Clark?" Olivia whispered.
David shook his head, "No, not now. He's got enough on his mind, we'll tell him at dinner."
Beneath the article's headline, a journalist had snapped a blurry photo. A superhero in a grey and white costume flew through the air with his fist outstretched in front of him. In the path of his strike, stood a green-skinned alien in an enormous suit of armour. The photo was lit by an otherwordly orange hue from a glowing portal behind the two figures.
The headline read, "Omni-Man defeats death! Triumphant return crushes third alien invasion!"
Clark didn't hear what his parents were saying. He sat at his desk, turning the silver card over and over in his hands. It seemed far too heavy for its small size.
Thousands of miles away, in a secret facility beneath the Pentagon, a phone started to ring.
Cecil glanced at the caller ID. He raised his eyebrows. The rest of his carefully controlled expression didn't change.
Cecil answered the call and lifted the phone to his hear, "What made you dial kid?"
Clark blinked. The person on the other end of the phone threw him a question without any kind of introduction or explanation.
"I can't live in fear." Clark answered after a pause.
Cecil nodded, "Pretty good reason."
The conversation, if it could be called that, came to a halt. The only sound Clark could hear was the faint sound of keyboard keys clacking from the other end of the line.
"I'm Cecil kid. I head up an agency called the GDA. Our job is to stop the world from blowing up, we work with individuals like you to keep that from happening.
I want you to work with us. You're special kid, we've seen what you can do. We can give you resources, training, technology."
Clark digested what he'd just been told.
"It won't be easy. There'll be days where you feel like giving up. But you can't. Because the world needs you. That's the job."
Clark took a deep breath, "I'll do it."
Cecil's lips curled into a smile. The scarring to the right side of his face made it look slightly scary, "Good choice kid."