A/N: Maya Time!
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Maya Grayson hated being left behind. Especially now that she finally had powers! All her life she'd watched her dad go off and save the world and at long last she could actually do something to help him… and she was sidelined.
Unfortunately, she understood why on a rational level. Her father wasn't leaving because of some big threat… he was leaving because his people were calling him home. Because her father, for all that he looks like a normal human man at a glance, was actually an alien from another planet.
That had always been super cool in her opinion, especially since it meant she was half-alien. Or rather, half-Viltrumite to be exact. But then for most of her life Maya had seemed like nothing more than a bog standard human girl. She couldn't do any of the things her father could do… until just a few weeks ago.
Since then, Maya had learned how to fly and how to control her new super strength and even how to fight. Her dad had taught it all to her and set her up with a costume from his old friend Art Rosenbaum for good measure. She'd even debuted the other day, just a day after her father left. She'd taken down Killcanon in a single punch and introduced herself to the police officers nearby as Invincible.
Everything should have been amazing… but even still, Maya couldn't help but feel dissatisfied in her father's absence. He was supposed to be her mentor, after all, and now he was off to Viltrum and she had no clue when he'd be coming back.
… She just wished she could have gone with him. Even if she did understand why she'd been left behind.
Coming in for a landing in their backyard, Maya walks up to the backdoor of her childhood home, only to pause when she hears raised voices coming from within.
"Where the hell is Nolan, Debbie?"
One of the voices sounds almost robotic and she quickly identifies it as coming over speaker phone. Meanwhile, the other voice belongs to her mother.
"I already told you Cecil, he's unavailable."
Maya's eyes narrow and she hunches down a bit. If she walks into the house now, or if her mother catches wind of her presence at all, then she knows exactly what will happen. Her mom will just take the phone off of speaker or end it all together so she can't overhear what's being talked about.
"That's not good enough. I have a goddamn alien invasion in the middle of the city. We need Omni-Man."
Her eyes go wide once more at that. An alien invasion?! Their home is pretty far from city center, smack dab in the middle of the suburbs that surround Chicago. Still Maya finds herself looking in that direction, as though she'll be able to see what's going on from here.
"And why haven't the Guardians been deployed?"
"They have been, Debbie. But Omni-Man could mean the difference between life and death for quite a few innocent civilians. We need all hands on deck for this one."
Maya doesn't quite know why her mother is so resistant… didn't dad tell her to tell Cecil for him? Fortunately, she finally says it.
"… He's off-planet."
"Excuse me? Why wasn't I informed?"
"Because he's not one of your toy soldiers Cecil, he never has been. He's not a member of the Guardians; he's not a member of the GDA. You have always known that, just as you've always been happy to use him as a free agent anyways."
"I don't know why you're treating me like the bad guy here, Debbie. We're on the same side. Where is he? When will he be back?"
"… I don't know."
Her mom sounds lost… and Maya thinks Cecil can hear it as well because his voice turns… conciliatory after a moment.
"Damn… alright. What about your daughter?"
Maya perks up, only for her mother to squawk in horror.
"Tell her that, Debbie. She's certainly ready to punch villains like Killcanon through half a dozen walls. I'm told she's calling herself Invincible… well, the Guardians could use Invincible's support right now."
They could, couldn't they? Maya's head slowly turns in the direction of city center once more. Is she imagining things or can she hear the fighting from here? An alien invasion in the middle of her city… if she didn't do something, how could she possibly live with herself?
"Absolutely not! I forbid it! Her father forbade it before he left! It's not happening, Cecil!"
"Shouldn't that be Invincible's choice, Debbie?"
Maya's breath hitches, even as Debbie snarls.
"No, because I'm her goddamn mother, Cecil!"
And with that, the older Grayson woman abruptly and angrily hangs up the phone. But Maya… Maya is already gone.
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It takes her a few minutes to reach the center of the city. By the time she's halfway, she can definitely hear the sounds of fighting, of battle between the aliens and the city's defenders. When she finally arrives, its to find a war zone.
Maya's eyes widen behind her mask as she sees local police in full retreat and the national guard is still nowhere to be found. The aliens are pouring out of a large portal in the middle of the city's biggest street, rows upon rows of foot soldiers with laser weapons backed up by alien tanks with laser cannons.
It's a massacre, bodies and body parts already littering the street. Maya's breathing quickens, her heart in her throat as she hovers there in midair. She needs to get it together. She needs to get down there and stop them. She-
Just as Maya is psyching herself up, there's a roar of challenge… and suddenly The Immortal comes in for a landing right in the middle of the alien forces. He sends foot soldiers flying every which way, taking lasers across his chest and back without complaint even as he lunges forward and punches his way through those who dare to stand in between him and the closest alien tank.
It's not just him either. A red blur that Maya can just barely make out as the Red Rush, the Guardians' resident speedster, is zipping back and forth saving lives and getting civilians out of the way as fast as he possibly can.
The rest of the Guardians of the Globe, with War Woman leading the charge, are right behind them. Darkwing, Aquarus, Martian Man, and Green Ghost II are all suddenly on scene, just as Cecil said they would be.
And yet… it's still not perfect. It's like Cecil had told her mom, regardless of how hard the Guardians fought, one more hero, someone like Omni-Man, would always be the difference between life and death for people. Red Rush could get civilians out of the way when he knew where they were, but the buildings around them were already starting to take damage and were probably full of people.
And the invasion wasn't stopping either. They were still coming. Maya finally finds her resolve and flies in, letting out a cry of her own as she tackles the nearest alien soldier just as he's bringing his rifle to bear on Darkwing.
It's a little embarrassing, but she actually had prior experiences with several of the Guardians from before she became a hero. They knew her as Maya Grayson, as Omni-Man's daughter… one time, Darkwing had even come to her birthday party.
And now here she was, having his back in a fight against aliens of all things. It's a little incredible, but also utterly terrifying. Maya's heart is racing, going a mile per minute as she fights and fights. At one point an alien laser hits her and knocks her flat on her ass… but besides leaving her ears ringing, it doesn't do much more than that.
She gets back up and keeps fighting, even as the aliens seemingly keep coming. They're like an endless tide, more of their tanks pushing through the portal… but Maya doesn't know the first thing about alien technology. She doesn't know how one would go about closing such a portal. All she knows is that as long as the Guardians of the Globe are holding their ground, she's got to hold hers.
And then suddenly, just as fast as it feels like they might honestly be overwhelmed… things end. Not with some climactic battle, but with something of a whimper. Literally even in the case of the alien soldier she's fighting, given the way he whimpers as he seems to suddenly begin to rapidly age.
Maya's eyes widen as not just her opponent, but every alien soldier surrounding her begins to wither away and die right there on the spot, growing more and more decrepit with each passing moment before finally collapsing to the street, incapacitated but not quite dead.
Looking past them, she sees more of the same all across the battlefield, with the rest of the aliens retreating back through the portal from whence they came. The Guardians chase them to the portal's edge but none of them actually go through it… smart considering it closes a moment after the last alien invader still standing flees through.
It would be inaccurate to say the battlefield falls silent, but it definitely becomes quiet… save for the wheezing dying gasps and groans of the suddenly aged invaders. Maya stares around at them all, as well as the numerous civilians they'd slaughtered before the Guardians arrived… and feels a bit numb.
"Hey! You're new! You alright?"
Blinking rapidly, Maya looks over to see a familiar face smiling at her. Not familiar because she knows them personally… but rather because she recognizes the other woman from the news.
"You… you're Atom Eve."
Grinning, the all-pink heroine nods.
"That's right, yep. I guess you didn't see us arrive in the midst of all that fighting."
Blinking again, Maya realizes what Atom Eve means… it's not just her, but actually the entirety of the 'Teen Team'. Robot, Rex Splode, and Dupli-Kate are all there as well. They must have shown up and started helping while Maya was distracted with the endless tide of aliens. Read this novel at novelping(.)com for the best experience.
"Hey there cutie, you pick out a name yet? I'm Rex, but I'm sure you already knew that!"
Maya stares at Rex Splode as the hero juts his thumb back at himself, giving her a flirtatious wink. She opens her mouth… only to close it and blush a bit. Seriously?
Atom Eve seems to agree, scowling furiously at her teammate.
"What the hell, Rex? You don't need to flirt with everyone with tits you know!"
"Oh come on Eve, I'm just being friendly!"
Maya's wide eyes ping pong back and forth between the two. She's thankful for her costume's concealing goggles in that moment. Before she can say anything however, Robot walks over and holds out one of his mechanical hands.
"It's good to meet another hero willing to step in and fight the good fight. You were surprisingly durable in the face of the enemy's energy weapons. With the right training, you have a bright future ahead of you."
Flushing a bit, Maya ducks her head even as she smiles and shakes Robot's hand. Yeah, she thought so to. Unfortunately, the 'right training' would really only come from her father… and she had no idea when he'd be back.
"All of you did well today!"
Maya jolts and the other younger heroes all pause as well before turning in the direction of that voice. It belongs to THE War Woman after all, and any member of the Guardians would demand their full attention, but she was definitely one of the best of the bunch.
Maya had literally idolized War Woman all her life. Sure, her dad was her first and favorite superhero… but he was a man. In terms of heroines, War Woman was the toughest and strongest. The mace she fights with is covered in alien ichor and she holds it easily on her shoulder as she offers them all a smile and a nod.
"That was a tough fight. While it looks like the enemy would have ultimately taken care of themselves, we definitely would have lost more people if you all hadn't shown up when you did. So thank you for your service."
Maya puffs out her chest… and she sees she's not the only one. Atom Eve and the others all stand a little straighter, having been praised by War Woman herself. Of course, as she's sweeping her gaze over all of them, War Woman eventually looks at Maya directly.
"… You are new, aren't you? I think I heard about you though… you took care of Killcanon yesterday, right? Invincible, was it?"
Holy shit, War Woman knew her name. Specifically, War Woman knew her superhero name. Swallowing hard, Maya quickly nods.
"I… y-yes, that's right ma'am. Invincible. T-That's me."
Oh god, she was blowing it already. But War Woman just keeps on smiling, nodding once more.
"A pleasure to meet you, Invincible. And to the rest of you… once again, good work. Until next time."
With that, the conversation is over. War Woman turns and flies off and Maya belatedly realizes that first responders are arriving on the scene. Dozens of people in hazmat suits from the Global Defense Agency are taking decrepit alien invaders into custody, while the rest of the Guardians are either standing around watching or have already left to put out the next big fire.
As Maya really looks around though, she notices something else… the news crews. Some of which have their cameras trained right on her and the Teen Team now that the Guardians are starting to depart.
Maya's mouth goes dry at that. Oh god… her mom was totally going to see this on the news. She was so fucked. And yet, she can't be too upset with the day's events. She'd saved lives, perhaps even a Guardian's life today and ultimately things had gone about as well as they could for her first major outing as Invincible.
She liked to imagine her father would be proud when he finally returned.
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A/N: Butterflies~
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