(Invincible) Invincible Bond: Chapter 13 - College Trip

Chapter 13 - College Trip

Summary: What starts as a simple college trip quickly spirals into chaos—and nothing stays hidden forever.

Mark was trying to shove one more bag into the trunk of the car and just barely managed to, and even then, it was only thanks to his powers he managed it. Though he thinks he heard a noise that surely wasn't supposed to come from William's car. He will have to make sure his dad pays back to his friend if there is something broken.

"Are you finished there, Mark?" Mark turned his head when he heard Eve's voice. The redhead walked around the car to stand next to him, a hand on her hip.

Mark gave her a side eye and asked, annoyed, "Why the hell do you even need so many bags? Can't you just change your clothes with a snap of your fingers?"

Eve rolled her eyes before replying, "If I feel like exercising, sure. But I usually just use my thoughts for that. But I can't just do it while I'm someone's guest now, can I? I will need to explain where the clothes came from if I don't carry any bag with me."

"Got a point," Mark grumbled. He hated that she was right, because it was annoying. There is a part of him that hates the fact he has to lie to William about all his hero activities, and that part of him wished he could tell his best friend everything hundreds of times, and now he has more of a reason to tell him.

If William knew about at least Eve's power, Mark could have a much easier life in times like now, but then again, learning about Eve's superhero persona will quickly lead to his own, and that will be a problem because... Wait, what was the problem again?

Mark was drawn back into the moment by Eve amusedly saying, "Stop pouting and let's get a move on; we are late, and William gets anxious about seeing his boyfriend."

Mark sighed as he closed the trunk of the car and said, "Well, he can blame my girlfriend for that."

Eve frowned, and before Mark could react, she hit him upside the head and huffed her way into the back seat. Mark let out another sigh and sulked his way to the passenger seat.

William clapped his hands and said, "About time; you are slacking, Grayson."

Mark could just roll his eyes, and before he even had the chance to relax, his mother's voice called, "Enjoy your trip, kids, and make sure not to do anything too out of hand."

His mom's suggestive voice left no doubt what she was talking about, and he could feel his cheeks heat up; no doubt there is a blush covering his cheeks. He turned his head to glance at Eve and saw her watching Debbie with wide eyes and a crimson face.

William waved to Mark's parents and replied enthusiastically, "Don't worry, Mr. and Mrs. Grayson, I will keep an eye to make sure all hands are kept in safe places."

Mark's head snapped to William's direction just in time to see Eve dishing another hit to his friend's head while Mark whined, "God, Will, what the hell are you talking about?! Can you just drive away already?"

Still with a smile on his face, William said, "You are the reason we are this late." Nonetheless, he began driving off.

Mark opened his mouth to argue about the actual reason they were behind schedule, but when he caught Eve's glare, he decided to keep his mouth shut.

As they settled into the drive, Eve leaned on the door and closed her eyes, opting to take a nap apparently.

Mark glanced backward toward Eve again, remembering how they ended up in this situation.

Flashback

Mark was finishing up another training session at the Pentagon. He was using his legs to lift a specially made metal machine.

He just finished a set of over 150 lifts and sat up on the bench he was laying on a moment ago. Cecil and Eve, who stood in the corner of the room watching him, stepped forward. Eve immediately offered him a towel, which he used to wipe off as much sweat as he could from his face.

Cecil smiled at him, or as much as someone like Cecil could smile, and said with a touch of pride, "Well done, kid; this is about half of your dad's maximum weight record, pretty impressive for this amount of time."

Mark could feel pride and elation filling him. It's not an easy feat to impress the director of the Global Defense Agency, so Mark could be proud about both it and the fact he is catching up to his dad faster than he thought would be possible.

And thanks to Cecil's gift tablets with access to classified info, Mark was also learning a lot about the different kinds of villains there are out there and what he still needs to learn to get better.

Cecil turned to leave the room, knowing he and Eve will find their own way out after visiting this room a few times by now, and said, "Well, I'll see you in a couple of days, kids."

Mark jumped to his feet, just remembering it now; he really still had a lot to work on. Still, right now wasn't the time to think about it, so instead he called out, "Cecil, I kind of have plans for this weekend, so I won't be around for training."

Cecil turned to him with a raised eyebrow and asked, "And what is more important than your training?"

Mark looked away from the pressure he felt under Cecil's gaze and muttered out, "College trip."

Cecil's intimidating gaze faded away in an instant back into his default indifference; he shrugged and said, "Good. I guess I'll see you kids soon enough."

"Actually, Cecil, I was hoping I can still come around for my training," Eve said before the man could leave the room again.

Cecil turned to her this time, again with the same raised eyebrow that made you feel he would get his answers no matter what. "You are not part of this college trip?"

Eve shrugged nonchalantly as she replied, "Don't see the point to do it. Because of my powers, I already had to learn advanced physics when I was like ten, and as long as I know the anatomical structure of something, I can create it."

Cecil hummed for a moment, "And that's how you want to help people?"

Eve smiled, "Of course. Well, that and helping Mark kick ass whenever he needs me."

Cecil sighed for a moment and pointed toward the table that stood near the exit before ordering Eve, "Build a fully functional building model. Think of it as if people will move in tomorrow."

Eve frowned in confusion before shrugging and walking closer to the table. She outstretched both her hands toward the table and concentrated. A few pink flashes later, and what looked like a miniature building that covered the entire face of the table and reached her chin in height appeared out of thin air.

Cecil seemed to examine her work in careful detail before giving her a single nod. Eve smiled smugly, which was quickly replaced by a look of horror when Cecil delivered a small kick to the base of the table, causing the table to shake and the entire building collapsed within a minute.

Cecil rubbed his chin and said sarcastically, "Now that was one marvelous disaster you created, Atom Eve."

Eve looked outraged and snapped in return, "Me?! You're the one who destroyed it!"

Cecil looked in mock offense and replied calmly, "Me? No. Your building went down because the base it was built on shook."

Eve scowled and replied with a sharp voice, "It wouldn't shake if you didn't kick the table to begin with."

Cecil raised an unimpressed eyebrow at her, "And you think the reason will matter when people die?"

Eve was shocked by the accusation and sputtered out, "Wh... What does this have to do with it?"

That was when it clicked in Mark's mind, and he blurted it out without noticing, "Earthquakes. You tried to show her what will happen if there was an earthquake."

Cecil looked approvingly at him, though that look was gone as fast as it showed up, and he said calmly, "Not just earthquakes. Mark, you and Nolan can level a street with your powers; don't you think that any fight of super individuals will cause equal damage?"

Mark looked down, knowing Cecil was right, even if he didn't want to admit it to himself. Fighting inside a city often ends up in collateral damage, and not just to buildings.

Eve was now looking at the rubble her building had become with a horror-struck face. Cecil sighed, "Look, kid, there's a reason people study years to build those things. There is more than just creating the material. You need to know why and where it should be. That's why education is important, even to a superheroine like you."

Eve could just nod; for a long moment there was silence before Eve raised her head with a new fire in her eyes as she declared, "Well then, I'm heading to college as well."

Cecil turned toward the door and said over his shoulder, "Good. See you in a few days, kids."

Mark caught the small smirk on Cecil's face, and another piece seemed to fit in his mind as he called out before he could think again, "You tried to help our relationship."

Cecil kept walking away without even looking back as he called back, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

End Flashback

Mark smiled to himself as he thought of that last moment again. It was hard to imagine Cecil actually has a heart under all his rough edges.

Mark turned to his best friend who was driving and apparently speaking to him this whole time. Mark shook his head and with a smile began to goof around with his friend; it had been a while, after all.

It took them a couple of hours of driving to get to the campus. When they finally parked the car, Mark was forced to start taking out all of Eve's bags as well as his own.

Mark was grumbling when a voice behind him said, "Whoa, man, need a hand with all of that?"

Mark turned around to see a tall, muscular blonde with a large, warm smile. Before Mark could even ask, William ran around the car with a loud call of "Rick!"

"Oh, so this is the famous Rick I heard so much about," Eve came from behind William with a smile on her face; after a moment, she added, "I can understand what Will sees here."

Mark frowned; the only reason he's not going mad right now was because he knew Eve was just messing with him. After all, with Will and Rick being an item, both of them knew Eve is not flirting with the blonde mountain.

Rick smiled back and said just as warmly as before, "And you must be Eve. Heard a lot about you too; have to say your own boyfriend is an eye candy."

William, Rick, and Eve all dissolved into laughter while Mark stood there, holding one of Eve's bags, completely confused.

After their good laugh, Rick actually did end up helping Mark carry a few of Eve's bags, and they managed to make it to his dorm in one trip.

Before Mark even knew it, he, Eve, and William were sitting through one of Rick's introductory lessons.

Everything proceeded much like in high school; that was until some crazy guy began to talk about evolving humanity like machines, going as far as arguing with Rick and the professor when his claims kept being dismissed.

As the crazy guy left the room in a storm, Mark couldn't help but notice his malice toward Rick; a glance at Eve confirmed she was in the same mind as him.

IB IB IB IB IB

Mark was walking through the campus grounds along with the other three when suddenly a crashing sound drew his attention.

Out of the cloud of dust stepped what Mark could only describe as a cyborg. He was undoubtedly human, but he had one mechanical arm, no shirt on, and the top half of his head was covered in metal as well; instead of eyes, he had a big red circle where they should be.

The cyborg seemed to look around wildly until his eyes landed on their group; he screeched inhumanly and charged at them. Immediately, Eve screamed, "Scatter!"

And they all did, but the monster seemed to have his focus locked on Rick as he ignored all of them and sped forward, grabbing Rick by the throat.

Before anyone could do anything, a tin can hit the cyborg on his head, causing him to drop Rick and turn around to the origin of the offense, just in time for William to hit him with another can right in his face.

The monster released another shriek, picked up rubble close to him, and threw it, full force, in William's direction.

William threw himself sideways to avoid the crash, but he didn't notice the young girl that was hiding behind him, now leaving her exposed and in the line of fire.

Before Mark could even react, Eve was next to the girl, holding her close and raising her hand to create a pink energy barrier just a moment before the concrete piece hit them.

Once the dust settled, Mark saw two things at once.

William was staring at Eve with wide eyes, probably because he saw her using her powers and was figuring out who she really was, but now was not the time to worry about it because in the same moment, the cyborg shrieked loudly and rushed toward Eve and the girl.

Mark snapped and without even thinking, used his powers to launch himself forward and punched the cyborg in the gut hard enough to send him flying into the fountain.

Mark turned to Eve, who had already used her powers to replace her casual clothes with her superheroine suit, and raised her arm toward him. In a flash of pink light, he was wearing his own super suit.

He was about to launch himself back toward the monster when William's voice from behind him made him freeze, "You are Invincible?!"