(Invincible) Invincible Bond: Chapter 17 - Home vs Home

Chapter 17 - Home vs Home

Summary: As father and son collide with a city's fate in the balance, even loyalty must be tested by blood.

Eve was almost blown away by the shockwave created when Mark and Nolan clashed into each other midair.

Eve could only hang on there and watch as Omni-Man used his speed to try and catch Mark off guard, hoping to land a punch on his son that would knock him out of the sky.

But thanks to his training, Mark was more than fast enough to catch all of Omni-Man's punches and block them.

Eve wasn't celebrating yet though; she could see Omni-Man was still holding back. She wasn't sure if it was because Mark was his son, or because Nolan didn't consider him enough of a threat for his full power.

Whatever the reason was, Eve found herself grateful for it. Because as they just saw with the Immortal, Omni-Man at his full strength is a frightening thing that even with all his training, Mark is not ready to face yet.

She was so absorbed in watching the fight she was startled when Cecil's voice came through the comms, "I'm sending two battle birds to your location, hold tight."

Eve watched as the father and son duo dominated the sky with their fight, each punch from Omni-Man being blocked so far, and so was every one of Mark's.

Both men were using their speed to try and get the upper hand on the other, not to mention the shockwaves each of their clashes was causing. She tried to change Cecil's mind, "Cecil, it's a bad idea..."

But before she could even explain why, it was already too late. She could hear the two fighter jets locking on their positions.

Unfortunately, it seems she was not the only one who noticed. Nolan's head turned toward the direction of the sound, his eyes narrowing.

He turned to look back at Mark and said darkly, "Maybe you need a visual lesson of how insignificant their lives are compared to ours."

Before either she or Mark could react, Omni-Man was already dashing through the air toward the jets. Without even stopping, he intended to crash with the jets head on.

When the pilot of the first jet Nolan was aiming for realized what was going to happen, he pulled the lever under him and ejected his seat out of the jet a moment before Omni-Man destroyed it with his body.

The jet turned into scrap pieces falling down to the ground while Omni-Man didn't even have a bruise on him.

The former hero didn't even wait a second before rushing toward the second jet. Wisely, the second pilot had already learned what would happen and ejected herself well before Omni-Man destroyed her jet as well.

The screams of the first pilot drew both hers and Mark's attention to him, only to notice him panicking in his falling seat with no parachute coming out.

Mark reacted at once and dove toward the man, but before he could reach him, Omni-Man tackled him in the sky, preventing Mark from helping the pilot.

Omni-Man could be only at one place at a time though, so with him busy holding Mark back, Eve took her own chance to dive, but she wasn't nearly as fast as Mark. So instead, when the pilot was close to the ground, she reached out her hand and created a pink energy sphere around the pilot.

Using her powers, she slowly lowered the pilot to the ground, landing next to him a moment later.

She and the pilot had just relaxed when suddenly Omni-Man appeared behind the pilot, his arms crossed over his chest and his face displaying a frown of disapproval.

Eve could feel her entire body tensing and her heart rate skyrocketing when the older man spoke, "You saved him. All this effort and for what?"

The question already put her on high alert, so when Nolan suddenly leaped toward the pilot, fist drawn back, Eve reacted immediately. She put as much power as she could into an energy blast and aimed two of them right at Omni-Man's already injured eyes.

The former hero was forced back with a scream of mixed pain and anger. He rubbed his eyes, and when he opened them, they were completely bloodshot, which made his glare toward her all the more intimidating.

As she saw him starting to advance toward her, she pulled the pilot behind her and was already starting to put up an energy barrier when Mark came out of nowhere and punched his dad straight in the face so hard Omni-Man was sent flying quite a distance into the air.

Mark turned toward Eve and said, "Sorry, had to catch the other one." Just then, the female pilot came running toward them. Mark turned back to look at his dad while saying over his shoulder, "Get them out of here; I will hold him back."

Without waiting for a reply from her, Mark flew closer to where Nolan stopped after his punch.

Eve cursed mentally; she wanted to help, but she also knew that Nolan would take the first chance to kill the two behind her.

Before she could think of any plan, a flash of blue light filled the air behind her; when she turned, she saw Cecil standing there with a hand on the shoulders of each of the pilots.

Cecil shrugged and said as calmly as possible, though she could hear something else hiding beneath it, "Don't mind me, just came around to clean the mess I made." Then his scarred side of the face twisted a little, and he said, "Now go help Mark kick the asshole's butt."

Eve smiled and flew up at the same time another flash of blue light took the three away. She watched as Omni-Man wiped the blood off his lips. He looked down at his blood-covered fingers, and then up to Mark with a scowl, "You are stronger than the last time we trained."

Mark frowned back at his dad and retorted mockingly, "It looks like there are better trainers than you. They helped me in case things would end up like this."

Mark's voice then turned to pleading as he called out, "Please Dad. This doesn't have to be like this; we can still fix it. Please."

Nolan shook his head in irritation and spoke with the same tone, "You are still too naïve."

All of a sudden, Omni-Man used his full speed to appear before Mark, and his full strength to punch him in the gut. Mark coughed out blood and had the air knocked out of him for a moment, and that was all the older man needed to grab his son's face in a strong grip.

The former hero then said flatly, "I am still your teacher, and it's time for an important lesson."

Then Omni-Man broke the sound barrier and took off in a random direction. Eve didn't even think twice and put all her effort into flying so she could at least keep up with the two males.

It was only after they had flown for a whole minute and the horizon began to change from trees and sand to the tall buildings of Chicago city that Eve realized what Omni-Man was about to do.

She saw Mark trying to pry off his father's grip on his face, but without success. Eve knew she couldn't allow their fight to reach the city, or the casualty number would be enormous.

With no other choice, she shifted her focus from flying to creating a long-ranged pink energy tentacle. She wished she could have the time and power to pry the two apart before attacking the older one, but she didn't have that luxury and instead grabbed them both.

Even before the tentacle finished tightening its hold on the Viltrumites, she already began pulling them off course.

Omni-Man seemed shocked by this turn of events, and before he could even react, he found himself thrown into a mountain far off his intended course.

The hit against the stone was enough to weaken Nolan's hold on Mark enough for Invincible to pry the hand off and put some distance between the two.

Mark was taking deep breaths when Eve shouted to him, "Invincible! He is trying to take the fight into the city; we can't let it happen."

Mark glanced over his shoulder to where the city was still visible in the horizon, just barely, before looking back and nodding. A small smile grew on his face; one of his eyes was now visible as the lens broke thanks to Omni-Man's grip.

His eye even looked a little swollen, but Eve ignored it and focused on his voice as he said, "I think it's time for some teamwork. Let's show him his pets can still pack a bite."

Eve smirked back at Mark. Before she could comment back, Nolan threw a rock at them that they easily evaded.

Omni-Man floated midair menacingly, fists clenched at his sides; his face still in a frown, he said dryly, "Your powers grew quite a bit in the last months. But do you really believe you are a match for me?"

Mark glared back at his dad and answered in a firm tone, "If I have to take you down to protect Mom, Eve, and everyone else, then I will have to be strong enough."

Nolan growled in frustration and began shouting at Mark while making exaggerated movements with his arms, "What will you do in 500 years? In 1000? When everything and everyone you loved has died and you're left all alone, what then? Think, Mark! Think!"

Mark's entire body relaxed for a moment, and he replied with a voice full of sadness and pain, "I thought I would have you."

Eve could hear those words echo in her own heart. Those words, as simple as they sounded, were packing so much. She could see the hopes Mark had for it that Omni-Man had already managed to kill.

And Nolan did have a point earlier. Eve knew she was nowhere near ready for kids, but she did hope that one day she and Mark would have a family, and even if one of their kids inherited the Viltrumite genes, the two of them would become three, and their child would be able to have another one that would have the chance to be a Viltrumite, and so on.

Nolan did say that Viltrumite genes are so pure that any kid carrying them would be basically like an alien no matter how human his other parent was. So the two of them could have their family grow and be far from alone in the future. It's a shame Nolan just couldn't see it.

Eve was a little hopeful when she noticed Nolan was caught off guard, his own frown relaxing a little and his glare turning into a wide-eyed look.

But soon enough, he shook his head and with the same scowl on his face said, "That doesn't matter. All that matters is our duty to the Viltrumite empire. And if you insist on being in the way of it, you must be removed."

Eve knew what was coming next and was already preparing herself, her arm stretching out toward the air just in front of Mark, her powers charging up.

Omni-Man used his full speed again to dash toward Mark and try to catch him off guard, which wouldn't work for two reasons.

Now that Mark knew his dad's true capabilities, he might not be able to match them, but he could predict and prepare for them. As could Eve.

It doesn't matter how fast Omni-Man is if she knows where he is going to stop. Just as he did it in the exact spot she expected him to, a punch millimeters from Mark's face, Eve used her tentacle trick again to grab a yet again shocked Omni-Man and throw him as strongly as she could to the ground.

Omni-Man flew out of the crater created and with a snarl dashed at her. She made a show of raising an energy screen to keep Nolan's focus on her, and that was when Mark appeared next to him and punched the former hero straight in the nose.

Omni-Man was sent spiraling through the air for a moment, and when he caught himself, there was a trail of blood coming down from his nose. Mark and Eve took the time he caught himself to put distance between themselves again.

And for the next few minutes, that's how the battle went on. Each time Omni-Man went after Invincible, she would use her powers to either slam him to the ground again or to hold him back long enough for Mark to block the attack.

When Omni-Man aimed to remove her from the equation, Mark was always there to use his lack of concentration to land a hit of his own.

Both of them did receive a couple of hits landed on them; after all, Omni-Man was a battle-tested warrior that could adapt to their strategy, and that's why they adapted as well, using everything they learned from Cecil's training.

Indeed, soon enough the fight was basically over; Omni-Man was left like a snarling animal, panting as he barely kept himself in the air. This time, Mark and Eve closed their ranks, flying next to each other.

Omni-Man took the bait and charged them both, but he was already barely holding on, so his speed was so low they both had time to draw their arms back, and in her case, even use her powers to reinforce her arm and fist.

Once the rogue hero was within reach, two strong fists collided with his chest, sending the alien warrior into the ground.

Nolan didn't even have enough in him to fly out of the crater created by his landing; he barely managed to crawl his way over its edge. And when he did, he was left panting on his knees.

Eve and Mark landed carefully in front of him. Nolan looked up at them with an expression that was hard to make out under his current condition. His face was covered in his blood. His lip was split, and his left eye was even more swollen than Mark's. His voice was weak and broken as he called out, "Mark... Kill me."

Eve could see a tear escaping Mark's exposed eye as he said sadly, "Sorry, Dad, I try not to kill, especially my own family. You can still help us when the time comes. Until then..."

Mark put all his power behind one last punch that sent Nolan back to the middle of the crater; this time, he wasn't getting back up.