Chapter 16

° Somewhere in New York

° A few minutes later.

The trio arrived on one of the buildings near the site, flying down on the roof deck of the short highrise where the rest of the Teen Team were waiting.

"Uh, where are you guys coming from?" Rex greeted them suspiciously, arms crossed.

"Um, we go to the same high-school, Rex" Eve explained

"Oh, you do, do you?" he said dubiously, looking at all three with obvious disbelief.

"Um, yeah, we do" Mark answered.

"What's the issue exactly?" Matthew asked.

"Oh, nothing. Must be nice" he said sarcastically, "You know who never got to go to high school? Me"

Mark raised an eyebrow under his goggles while Matthew smirked, both thinking how oblivious the guy must be to not catch the accidental self-burn.

"We know" Eve said, "It shows"

Matthew chuckled but let the matter pass as he focused his eyes on the invasion within view.

"I'd appreciate everyone's attention on the matter at hand" Robot addressed the group as he stood by the edge of the rooftop, his ocular instruments pointed forward.

"Guess who's back" Dupli-Kate added.

The Flaxans were once again marching out of dark swirling portals, a full battalion of them causing much damage to the surrounding buildings and fully accompanied by an increasing number of much larger-looking enemy tanks.

Matthew suddenly winced as multiple mental screams and wails pierced his mind before he tuned it out, hiding the reaction well by smoothly messaging the side of his temple.

"How long has this been going?" he asked Robot.

"15 minutes and 39 seconds as of this moment" Robot answered with his flat tone.

Matthew paused and looked at him, confused. As did everyone else.

Rex finally pointed out the glaringly obvious implication on his own, "They're not getting old, Robot. Why aren't they getting old?"

"They seem to have discovered a way to resist our time stream" Robot gave the most likely explanation.

"In three days? Already?" Rex was dumbfounded.

"Three days for us, years or possibly decades for them" Robot answered.

"They might have prepared other things as well. Strategies and tactics to deal with us and/or other superheroes" Matthew said with a worried look.

"That is a good point" Robot agreed as he hopped on the hovercycle that flew in below them, "We should look out for those as well"

Dupli-Kate scoffed and confidently said, "Who cares? I bet their bones still break"

"So do ours!" Rex said as he hopped in after her.

Matthew began to float off the rooftop, priming himself for the expected fight.

"Ready for this?" Eve turned to Mark.

"Yeah. I think so" Mark answered, sounding somewhat uncertain and firm.

Both looked to the sight but Mattew took their attention when he suddenly was floating in front of them with a cheeky grin on his face.

"You guys are so cute" Matthew teased as he leapt from the building, Mark and Eve followed behind him in embarrassment.

****

Rex Splode and Dupli-Kate jumped off the hovercycle to engage the enemies on foot, Matthew broke off from the overhead flight and flew along them to divide the group evenly.

The Flaxans acted quickly, one of their tanks aiming at the approaching trio and fired.

"Get down!" Matthew shouted as he flew ahead of them, crossed his arms and braced to intercept.

The energy blast detonated onto him, the sheer force of it sent him back a full 2 feet from his spot and the heat was just enough to burn off the edges of the suit. Matthew wasn't even surprised at how much of a kick it had compared to the last time.

The two behind him were knocked to their feet, but otherwise safe.

The Flaxans, however, did not stop.

A number of them arranged an array of metallic cubes along their front, each one unfolding and transforming into a larger stationary iteration of the alien rifle and fired upon them once more. This time, instead of blast rounds, beams of red energy shot out.

Matthew flew out of the way and shielded Dupli-Kate from another one that tracked her wherever she went, scorching the very area she was occupying.

The heat of the attack was intense, but Matthew and his suit could still handle it.

"Thanks, Superboy" Dupli-Kate said as she used him as cover.

"Don't mention it" Matthew said, "Just didn't want to see you dying on me again"

Dupli-Kate eyes softened as she looked up at him.

Rex Splode saw the exchange and begrudgingly ignored it as he accurately pitched a few charged coins at the beam emitters, destroying them in one fell swoop. His celebration was abruptly cut short as he leapt out of the way to a beam aimed for him, charging and throwing another set of coins at the aliens.

But once again, the Flaxans reacted quickly. A pair of them broke of from the firing line and aimed their rifles at the incoming coins. Instead of energy blasts, both rifles fired a focused wave of unknown energy that stopped the falling coins in their tracks before turning back on their arcs.

Matthew moved, speeding in front of Rex and clapping his hands as hard as he could towards the coins. A loud *crack* sounded out from his palms as the attempted thunder lap succeeded in scattering the coins back to the Flaxans.

Matthew let out a sigh of relief that it worked.

"Hey!" Rex called out angrily, "I had that under control!"

Matthew sighed once again, for a different reason this time, and proceeded to engage the Flaxans line more directly. Flying through the gaps in their line and plowing through group after group, breaking both bone and metal as he passed.

Not far from him, Robot and Eve engaged the enemy as well. Robot firing a barrage of missiles along the Flaxans groups while Eve disrupted the enemy tanks with javelins of energy.

Once again, the Flaxans reacted quickly and accordingly.

A tank aimed for Robot and fired a small polyhedral towards him. It split into multiple pieces attached itself to the hovercycle, those delivered a very strong electrical current that disabled both Robot and the hovercyle. Robot fell off and the hovercyle crashed onto a tank, taking it along as it exploded into bits.

Eve, meanwhile, focused her efforts on covering the civilians as they fled from the scene by creating a pair of pink wall construct. Her efforts were quickly undermined by the approaching Flaxans who fired on her construct a heavily. Yet Eve wasn't one to back down so easily. She waited for a gap in their attacks to push back, sending a thick wave of energy in front of her that disrupted the Flaxans. Leaving only a thick mass of black smoke that hindered her vision as she panted from the effort of creating such a large thing.

Only then did the Flaxans react by sending a number of orbs that pierced through the smoke and approached Eve. Eve resisted, destroying a good few with her power, but was ultimately incapacitated when an orb managed to get close enough and opened up to clamp down on her face.

Mark flew in and crashed in the middle of a group of Flaxans, knocking them away. He turned and braced as tank after tank fired energy beams at him, pinning him in place as he was unable to move away. And so, without being able to do anything, Mark was suddenly blasted with a large splash of grey goo that stuck close to him and prevented him from moving an inch despite his strength.

He struggled vainly against it.

The Flaxans closed in around him, including a particularly familiar one to Mark himself. A Flaxan with a large scar on the right side of his face. It mocked him with the broken sneer on it's face. Mark looked around to check on the others.

Rex and Dupli-Kate were battling the Flaxans by themselves, trying to reach Matthew who was encircled by Flaxans who were shooting a repeating number ofnwaves that somehow made his brother unable to move.

Robot was not far from him, looking like he was unable to move while a number of Flaxans surrounded him. Robot saw his look and struggled, "They seem...to have spent their time wisely"

And as for Eve, she was down and writhing on the street with her face covered.

"Eve!" Mark called out, pulling on the good and failing.

The scarred Flaxan saw this act of desperation and it's sneer widened maliciously. It snarled and turned, leisurely walking towards Eve.

"No, don't! Don't. Don't! No!" Mark screamed and shaked in anger.

The Flaxan pulled out a smaller blaster from his side, pulled Eve by her hair, and aimed the blaster at her face.

"I said, no!" Mark finally had enough and, in a burst of hysterical anger, flung his arms do fast and so hard it created he broke out of the goo and created a shockwave that flung everything around him away.

Matthew escaped the hold as the Flaxans were flung off their feet, immediately proceeding to assist Rex and Dupli-Kate.

Mark flew through the Flaxans, making a beeline straight for the one holding Eve and tackled him away and into the side of a building. Mark angrily ripped out the chest armor of the alien and began pummeling him. He held back from blowing the head up with one swing, using just enough strength to heavily disfigure alien in a barrage of blows.

Mark was about to unknowingly finish the job entirely with another blow before he was stopped when a firm hand gripped his own. Matthew had flown in from behind him.

"Enough, Invincible" Matthew said, "Any more and you'll kill it. And you'll regret it"

Mark stopped and looked at him "...Sorry"

"Its okay" Matthew let his arm go and patted his shoulder "Let me handle this. Besides. Eve needs your help"

Mark suddenly realized what he was doing and shoved Matthew aside to fly towards Eve, who was swiftly relieved from the metal device grasping her face.

Matthew gave the groaning alien below him momentarily before flew over them, seeing no more threat. He landed beside Robot, noticing the strange triangular objects pumping out electrical charges he picked it all up and crushed it in his hands, leaving a few in pocket to check out for souvenirs.

Rex and Dupli-Kate rushed to Robot's side.

The scarred alien stand, staggering on its feet and bloody faced, wheezing weakly. A small explosion burst from a strange wristband on its hand and it almost immediately began to age.

"Robot" Matthew pointed "Do you see that?"

Robot stood from his prone position and observed, "The wristbands protect them from our timestream. Destroy their wristbands"

Matthew reacted without hesitation, rushing to the middle of a group of Flaxans, grasped their wristbands, then squeezed. Bones snapping like twigs in his hands.

He gave their minds a quick scan and saw the series of images of the aliens being ordered to wear them. As the screams of pain came from their bones breaking and the wristbands were destroyed, Matthew suddenly felt an influx that caused his head to ache.

He let go immediately, watching as the aliens aged and his ache quickly relieved itself. What came next surprised him so much, he was momentarily stunned.

He understood what the Flaxans were saying as they aged, screaming 'no' and 'It can't be like this'.

"Cursed human garbage!" a Flaxan screamed from behind him and started firing, snapping Matthew out of his state as he quickly reacted. Breaking off their wrists along with the bands as he tanked the blaster fire.

Deciding to review what had happened in his mind later, he went along with the others in disabling the wristbands quickly.

"Superboy!" Robot called to him, "Bring me one of those bands"

Matthew caught a Flaxan by the neck and flew towards Robot, holding its wristband towards him as he kept the alien under his control.

"You will regret this...human!" the Flaxan said with great conviction.

Matthew pretended not to hear and waited for Robot to finish.

"Done. 49,000 kilohertz" Robot said after a few seconds, "I will need time to--"

"Just do it, I'll cover you" Matthew crushed the Flaxans wrist and threw it away, then prepared himself for the ones that were running towards him with weapons raised.

It didn't take long for him to completely disable them and for Robot to finish his calibration. Without a word, Robot let out a low sonic frequency wave from his body. The shrill, electronic sound he made was eerie to hear, but its effects were plain to see.

Minor explosions came one after the other as all the Flaxans' wristbands were destroyed, aging them all up immediately.

Everyone let out sighs of relief as the Flaxans promptly ran in retreat. Running back towards the portal like ants to an ant hill.

The scarred one paused upon the entrance and looked back at them, "I'll be back!" before going in as the portal winked out of existence.

Matthew was once again amazed at himself for understanding what was just said, fully aware that the words spoke were not in English or any other language he knew.

"Right back 'atcha, buddy" Rex taunted the no longer present Flaxan, blowing raspberries out of childish defiance.

"Way to go psycho there, Invincible" he then said to Mark, "I take back everything I said about you before, and I said a lot"

"I don't know what happened. I got mad... I guess?" Mark looked to Matthew, looking for an answer.

Matthew shrugged, "Maybe it's a kind of fight-or-flight response to seeing someone close to you be in real danger"

He eyed Eve and held a teasing smirk from appearing on his face.

"Don't get me wrong, that was amazing" Rex admitted "But also the scariest thing I've ever seen. Just don't ever point that at me, okay?"

"Don't listen to Rex. You did great" Eve consoled Mark.

Matthew said nothing despite thinking of some things he thought Mark could've done instead, saving the matter for later.

"That's what I said, Eve" Rex complained and then put a hand over the small of his back, "God, my back"

Suddenly, Matthew's phones rang. The two look at each other and Matthew pulled out his home, seeing the person calling him he answered immediately.

"Hello?" he said and listened to his mother on the other side of the call. Matthew's eyes widened more and more as the seconds ticked by.

"Can I get a massage? Anybody? Just a little rub?" Rex asked the others, ignoring the looks the twins were giving each other as the call went on.

"Everything okay?" Eve asked Matthew.

Matthew put the phone down and looked to Mark, "We gotta go. Its Dad"

Mark's eyes widened in realization and nodded, flying ahead. Matthew gave the group an apologetic look as he followed behind.

"Oh, no, that's fine. We'll handle the clean-up. Asshоlе!" Rex shouted.

"Wait" Dupli-Kate interjected, and looked to Eve "Did he just say Dad? Are they related or something?"

"Something like that" Eve smiled.

****

° GDA Headquarters

The twins flew across the facility at break neck speeds, rushing towards their father's room in a hurry and excitement.

Matthew let Mark lead as he arrived first, entering through and seeing their father awake and already talking well enough with their mother.

Debbie noticed their arrival, "Mark, Matthew!"

"Hey, boys" Nolan flashed a cheeky smile at them.

"Dad!" Mark happily said and rushed with superhuman speed onto Nolan.

"Ow! Ribs..." Nolan said as he took the hug in.

Matthew calmly floated to the other side and waited for Mark to finish before he hugged his father again. Relief washed over him to see him awake again. He made a similar complaint as before.

"Careful! You're going to put him in a coma again" Debbie worried but laughed at the display of affection.

Nolan smiled at Debbie and reassured her, "You're okay! I can take it"

"No, he's not and he shouldn't, but he is okay enough to come home" Debbie tenderly held Nolan's hand.

"So" Nolan said, looking to both boys "Mom says you guys have been keeping the planet safe for me"

"Mom's exaggerating" Mark quickly said.

Matthew smirked, "Nevermind the world, we can't even deal with an alien invasion in New York"

"Oh?" Nolan was curious now, "Tell me everything"