The alien invasion was a major shock for Clark and his family. It was a clear example of how fragile ordinary people were in a world full of superhumans.
David sat on the sofa. He was in a daze, his eyes were unfocused. Olivia squeezed his hand tightly. He didn't react.
Clark's fists clenched at his sides. He raised his voice, "Dad!"
David blinked. He suddenly became aware of where he was again. He forced an awkward laugh, "Haha, sorry, I was somwehere else."
Olivia looked at her husband with an expression of deep concern. She had no idea what to do or say to someone who'd just survived a near-death experience.
Clark felt useless. He'd arrived to the battle as fast as he could, but his dad had already suffered significant mental trauma. David had watched as laser beams cleaved people apart at the waist. He'd been terrified that he would end up as another one of the corpses.
After meeting the Teen Team, Clark had gained several new bodies he could change into. None of their powers would make him any better at comforting his dad.
'He needs time.' Clark thought to himself.
"Give me your phones, I'm going to install a tracking app. If anything happens, I'll know where you are." Clark said.
David handed his phone over without any thought to argue. Once he'd done this, he returned to staring blankly at the wall in front of him.
Olivia hesitated. There were implications behind what Clark was asking them do. It wasn't supposed to be his responsibility to monitor their safety.
Olivia pushed her worries back down. Her husband was sitting on the sofa, dazed, after almost becoming a casualty to an alien invasion. They were Clark's parents, they were supposed to look after him. But the world didn't play by the rules.
Olivia handed her phone to Clark, unlocked. He immediately opened up the app store and downloaded the same popular tracking app he'd installed on his dad's phone.
Clark fetched his own phone from the kitchen table. He downloaded the app as well and synced it up to his parent's locations. The small dots representing them made him feel a tiny bit more secure.
"Honey, are you hungry?" Olivia asked. She tried to smile reassuringly at David.
David didn't need to think about his answer. He didn't feel hungry, or tired, he didn't feel anything at all. The only thought in his mind was remembering the scorching heat of the lasers as they tore through the air. He was alive because he'd been lucky enough to run in the right direction.
David opened his mouth to refuse Olivia's offer, "No, I'm-"
The words faltered. He saw something in his wife's eyes that made him stop talking. She wanted to help, desperately, and she felt useless that she didn't know how to talk to him.
"-actually, yeah, I'm pretty hungry." David said.
Olivia didn't even notice the forced shift in his sentence. She kissed David on the cheek and hurried over to the kitchen, "I'll make pasta! Carbonara, the way you like it!"
Clark heard the sound of the stove turning on. He could hear his mum opening the fridge and measuring out the pasta.
Now, it was just David and his son, sitting in the lounge together. Some clarity returned to David's eyes. He remembered how Clark, in a body that wasn't his own, had tore across the battlefield to reach him. The laser fire that had cut through flesh like butter, didn't even leave a mark on his skin.
David felt like he was sailing on waves that stretched up to the skies. He didn't know how to process, or how he could ever process, watching so many people die.
But seeing his son sat across from him, with his fists clenched and his jaw tight, he realised one thing. He wasn't alone.
The words flowed uncontrollably from his lips, "Were you scared?"
It was the first time David had taken the initiative to speak since Clark had brought him home. Clark blinked, the question had come almost out of nowhere.
"Terrified." Clark answered.
When he'd flown onto the battlefield, he was gripped by a terror so intense that it made him feel like he was drowing. Even after he'd carried his dad away to safety, this terror didn't dissapear. It took on a different shape, anger, but it stayed with him.
David smiled. This time it wasn't forced, "Me too."
The feeling that had been consuming David, of being cast-adrift on roaring waves, eased slightly, "You saved me, Clark."
Tears rolled down Clark's cheeks. He was in his own body. When he was himself, he wasn't strong, or fast, but right now, none of that mattered. The only person that mattered to his dad, was the real him.
Clark wiped the tears from his face, "Yeah, of course."
David felt a wetness on his cheeks. He wasn't sure when he'd started to cry.
David's legs moved without him telling them to. He stood up. Clark moved almost simultaneously. The two of them met in the middle of the lounge. Father and son held each other tightly.
Olivia froze as she walked into the room, she was holding a serving spoon in one hand, "Pasta's re-"
David turned to the sound of her voice. He didn't try to hide the tears on his cheeks. He didn't say anything to Olivia, the vulnerability in his eyes said more than words ever could.
The serving spoon tumbled across the carpet. Olivia rushed towards her husband and son. She wrapped her arms as hard as she could around both of them.
The family of three embraced. They didn't let go for a long time. In this silent, physical contact, they found a kind of spiritual comfort.
Eventually, David relaxed his arms. He was the first to move out from the embrace. He sniffled and wiped the tears from his face, "Let's eat. We all need a good meal. Thank you for cooking, Olivia."
Olivia smiled through her tears. She tried to speak, but her voice came out as a whisper, "Of course."
They sat around the table together. No one spoke, the only sounds were of cutlery scraping against plates and food being chewed.
David finished his plate. He hadn't been hungry, but when he bit into the first mouthful, he suddenly felt like it had been days since he'd last eaten.
David felt a wave of exhaustion crash into him. He stacked the family's plates and piled them in the sink. Normally he would've washed up immediately after dinner, but the task could wait until the next morning.
"I'm tired honey, will you come to bed?" David asked.
Olivia nodded repeatedly. Her eyes were slightly red from crying, "Of course."
David took his wife's hand and squeezed it tight. They walked slowly up the stairs together.
As his feet touched down on the second floor, David turned back to his son. His voice was gentle, "Good night Clark."
"Night honey, we're so proud of you." Olivia added shortly after.
Clark smiled, he was still sat at the dinner table, "Night mum, night dad."
Clark heard his parent's bed shift against the floorboards as they got into bed. He could see a small amount of light escaping out from the door. They weren't going to sleep immediately. If he switched into Mark's body, he would be able to hear what they were talking about.
Clark stood up and walked over to the sink. He turned the hot tap and added a squirt of washing up liquid. He grabbed the first plate and began to scrub.
'What if I wasn't there?' Clark thought to himself while his hands continued to clean.
If he hadn't gotten there in time, his dad could've died. The red lasers fired by the aliens' guns travelled faster than any human could ever run.
Earth had hundreds of different superheroes protecting it. But every day, civillians still ended up crushed under falling rubble or blown to pieces by explosions. The illusion of safety that ordinary people lived in, could shatter like glass in an instant.
He'd talked about how he wanted the next few years to go with his parents. The plan was simple. He would finish high school, and go to college. Once he turned eighteen, he could think about further education or consider whether he wanted to use his powers to help people.
The alien invasion threw all of this into chaos. Clark had heard people's terrified screams as they ran for their lives. They weren't just victims, they were mother's and father's, real people with real lives.
'I can help people. How can I hide at home while people are dying?'
Clark reached for another saucepan, but his hands clutched at empty air. He realised suddenly that he'd finished the washing up.
He didn't feel like sleeping.
He went up to his room and got his key. He didn't think that his parents would mind, or even notice, if he left for an hour or two.
The nighttime air was cold, and slightly damp. Clark didn't run to the forest like he normally did. Instead he walked, lost in thought.
Most of America knew that there were global conflicts going on. There were plenty of countries that faced more trouble from civil unrest than villains or monsters. Newspapers used casualty counts as headlines.
People knew that wars were going on, and that innocent people were dying. But reading this, and seeing it firsthand, were completely different.
The alien invasion forced Clark to reevaulate his entire worldview. His eyes had been opened to a cruel kind of truth, and he would never be able to unsee it.
Clark walked past the forest's edge. He willed himself to change, and in an instant he became Atom-Eve. Bursts of pink energy crackled at his fingertips.
Clark found solace in training. The onslaught of thoughts faded to a quiet hum. He poured his focus into manipulating the atoms around him.
He was still a complete novice at using Atom-Eve's powers. He had to concentrate with all his focus to manipulate matter. If he tried to use her powers to fight, even an ordinary robber with a gun might be able to defeat him.
Clark estimated that it would be months until he became proficient enough to use Atom-Eve's powers in combat. The chemistry textbooks he'd once found boring now kept him up late reading. As his knowledge of elements and their arrangements developed, it became easier for him to manipulate them in the real world.
Despite his proficiency barely reaching 1% of the real Atom-Eve's, he could still use his powers to do things that bordered on miracles. He could transform stone into gold or set the air itself on fire.
On earth, Atom-Eve and Invincible were practically gods. Clark found it scary that these two superhumans had been walking around his campus and he'd had no idea.
'Samantha, or Eve, whichever one is her real name, is on the Teen Team. Maybe I could join them?' Clark thought to himself.
For a moment, he lost focus on his powers. Pink energy flared and the orb of water he'd been manipulating suddenly transformed into a lump of coal. Clark caught it as it fell towards the ground.
There were too many things to think about. What would his parents say if he told them he wanted to save people now, not in two years time when he became an adult like they'd discussed? How would he balance high school and superhero work? Where there laws that vigilantes had to follow?
Clark sighed. He raised his hand slowly. The air shimmered as the particles shifted under his command. Gemstones crafted out of literal thin air fell and scattered across the forest floor.
Clark waved his hand and the gemstones rose back into the air. He grabbed one and turned it over. It was an emerald, with sharp edges and a rich green colour. It wasn't an imitation, or a trick, it was an actual emerald. There was no difference between the one he was holding and an emerald that had been dug up from the earth.
'I'll think about it tomorrow.' Clark thought to himself.
Pink energy burst out from his hands and feet. The energy lifted him into the air. He hovered unsteadily above the ground. He still couldn't reliably fly using Atom-Eve's powers without crashing into something.
Clark appreciated the simplicity of Invincible's powers. He couldn't help but think that they were incredibly similar to Omni-Man's. Maybe there was a connection between the two superheroes? It seemed unlikely, Omni-Man had arrived to earth decades ago, and Invincible had only made his debut a few weeks back.
Clark scoffed. The pink energy flowing from his right hand sputtered out. His shoulder dropped immediately and he crashed into a redwood. He bounced harmlessly off the enormous tree.
Clark picked himself up off the floor. He untangled a few twigs from Atom-Eve's long red hair. He felt a dull ache in his right shoulder where he'd crashed into the tree.
'Crazier things have happened. Who knows, maybe Invincible and Omni-Man are related.' Clark had been so distracted by this idea that he'd crashed. His powers had appeared with no explanation, and no warning. By comparison, it didn't seem outrageous at all that there could be a link between the two superheroes.
Clark switched into Invincible's body. The dull ache in his shoulder rapidly began to fade. He'd discovered this trick a few days ago. After a minute or so, the ache was gone completely.
Clark changed back into Atom-Eve. It was helpful for his control over matter to practice using her powers for flight. Not every situation required strength and speed. If he could gain a basic level of proficiency with Atom-Eve's powers, he'd be much more versatile.
He turned the key in the door. The light from his parent's bedroom was switched off. He walked quietly up the stairs and got into bed. It wasn't long until he was fast asleep.