INVICTUS

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INVICTUS


CHAPTER 1 {INVICTUS}


Scene: Hospital Room--Neurology Wing--Late Evening


The walls hum with the quiet beeping of monitors. A soft rain taps at the window. Dr. Emerson, a seasoned neurologist with tired eyes, stands before a couple sitting stiffly in plastic chairs outside the ICU. The window to their son's room is clear, revealing a pale boy lying still beneath a white sheet.


"Mr. and Mrs. Grayson… I've gone over the scans, the test results, and consulted with the team. I--I'm so sorry. Your son suffered significant trauma to his brain during the accident."


Debbie leans forward, gripping her husband's hand. "What are you saying? He's going to be okay, right? He just needs time. He's strong. He--he always bounces back."


Dr. Emerson replies softly but firmly, "He's alive, and that's something to hold on to. But… The damage is centered around the hippocampus and parts of the frontal lobe. That means memory--personal memory--has been affected."


(Author's note: I have no idea if that is actually true, but please just chalk it up to 'it is just fiction.')


Debbie's voice is low, stunned. "You mean he won't remember what happened?"


"It's more than that. While he will be able to remember things like language, other general information, and things that repeat, he will have a hard time remembering specific information. Like, you and your husband should be fine, but things like what specific thing happened a few months or years back will probably be gone."


(Author's note: Again, not a neurologist; I don't even know if this is plausible in the real world.)


Now Debbie is shaking her head, and her voice is rising. "...I was just with him yesterday morning. We--he made breakfast. He hugged me. He said he loved me. And you are telling me he will forget things like that…"


Nolan, quietly trying to keep his composure, says, "What happens now? Is there a chance he could get it back?"


Dr. Emerson pauses, choosing his words carefully. "I truly have no idea. The brain is a complicated organ, and as much as we can say we are learning, there is simply too much we don't know. I am not telling you to lose hope. I am saying that your son might be a little different now, but he is still your son. Things like manners you instilled in him for years will still be there, even if he does not understand why."


Debbie replies, "He's right there… ten feet away… He looks no different than when he is sleeping..."


Nolan's jaw clenched, starting to relax. "That is good; it means he will be back to being healthy in no time."


Dr. Emerson nods, quietly respectful, and says, "That is true; just give him some time, and even if he might seem a little different for a while, things will go back to normal."


The monitor inside the room gives a soft chime. Debbie wipes her tears and slowly rises, hand on the glass. Nolan stands behind her, silent, a steadying presence.


A few hours later


This is what I woke up to see: a white roof with hospital smells. I was well aware of the predicament I was in. The whole accident thing was manufactured by my patron to excuse the changes in personality, since, you know, I'm a different person from Mark. In truth, I don't even know why he wanted me here. I barely know anything about the Invincible comics, but whatever, I should be fine with the powers I chose. It took the attending nurse a few minutes to inform the doctor that I was awake and for him to arrive to talk to me.


The first thing Dr. Emerson says to me is, "You're awake."


His voice is low and calm. Not surprised. Like he was expecting me to wake up soon. I stare at him. My head is clear since I don't actually have any actual brain damage, but I should act like I do until this whole thing is done with and I can go to Mark's house. I can't get myself to call it my home just yet. I will do that after I live in it for a few days.


"Where…" I rasp. "Where am I?"


"In the hospital," he says, folding his hands in front of his chest. "You were in an accident, Mark. It's nighttime now. You've been unconscious for a few days."


Mark... yeah, that's my name now; better get used to it. I look around the room--white walls, machines, blinking lights. A window with rain sliding down the glass. Just an ordinary night.


I shift slightly, and there's a tug in my arm. Tubes. Monitors. I feel like a science experiment.


"Feels… wrong," I whisper.


"You've got every reason to feel that way," he says. "You took a bad hit to the head. There was swelling and bruising in the brain. You've been through something serious."


His eyes are kind, but they are lost on me, since to me, all this is just fake, even if it is real for him.


"My parents?" I ask. The words come out slowly. Man, I should get a damn Oscar, not that I know what it takes to get an Oscar.


"They're here," he says. "They've been waiting for you. I asked them to rest a little bit earlier. I thought I should be the one to talk to you first."


"Why?" I ask.


"Because I want you to hear the truth, clearly. Not from a crying voice or a memory you can't place."


"You've suffered brain damage, Mark. The areas that control memory--memory of specific events--were affected. That's why things feel foggy. That's why you're struggling."


I know I should probably try to sound more authentic, but the problem is that I have no idea how. I have never had brain damage, and thank God for that, but I also did not watch any media to help me here, and I don't want to get caught by faking too much.


"I don't…" My throat is rough; at least I am not faking that. "I don't remember."


He nods slowly. Not surprised. "You might, in time. Or maybe not all of it. But memory isn't just facts and names. Sometimes it comes back in pieces. Sometimes it never does. But we build something new."


I don't know what to say to that. I turn toward the window instead. The rain looks soft. Peaceful. The kind of rain you'd fall asleep to… Should I just sleep until we get home, and everything is just skipped over? As tempting as it is, I doubt they would actually discharge me if I were not awake.


"I should remember," I say. It comes out raw. You know what I should do? I should ask for water.


"I know," he says. "But that emptiness you feel right now--it won't last forever. The brain's still working, even if you can't feel it. Healing takes time. You're not starting from nothing, even if it feels that way."


I swallow hard and do the right thing. "Can I get some water?"


He doesn't argue. Just stands, walks, and a while later comes back with one of those white plastic cups that are entirely too small for water drinking. I chug it in a gulp, and it is divine--all my sore throat is gone just like that.


"Get some rest, Mark. We'll take it one step at a time. You're not alone."


I want to believe him, but from what little I know about his story, I might actually be alone. It is not like I can actually tell anyone about the future I know, which is practically nothing other than that my father is going to try to destroy the planet.


The door clicks shut behind him. The room settles into silence again, just the beeping and the rain. I stare out the window, just until the door opens again, and here come the parents--Debbie and Nolan Grayson.


Debbie barely whispers, "Hi, sweetheart. It's Mom…"


"Hello, Mom, don't worry, I will be fine."


We talked for a while. They asked some questions--all I basically knew nothing about--but my patron had given me just enough information to know some people, like their names and faces, so I was able to fake it for a while. It was night, and I was getting sleepy, so we decided to continue tomorrow. Just like that, I was off for the night.


In the morning, the doctor was back. He did some tests and said I was free to go home. We left the hospital soon after that.


"You do remember the house, right?"


"Yes, Dad. The doctor said I will be able to remember repeated things, and the house is definitely one of them."


The moment I entered the house, I wanted to go to Mark's--no, my--room to make sure I didn't mess up something important, but that would be weird. Debbie made lunch, and we decided to eat before anything. It was a good meal. For the first thing I ate in this new world, I will try not to forget it.


They wanted me to relax, so we watched some TV and played family games--even if at one point Nolan had to go off to do some heroics. Debbie--no, Mom and I saw him on the news. It is immensely weird to think of myself as the son of the most powerful man in the world… but I will adapt.


We spent the rest of the day just trying to enjoy the day. By the time it was night and we were about to sleep, I was already calling Debbie Mom in my head... weird but good. I miss my original mom, and having Debbie does help.


One week later


It took a week, but Mom was finally ready to let me go to school. I did not like school much in my past life; I was always a loner, but I will try to fix that here. New life, new me, and all that. This should be the same day Mark got his powers, so I will also tell them about my powers today. Before going to school, she told me about Dad, and yes, I have also started to call him Dad. It will help me keep any cover I might need, and I also heard something about him being redeemed in the future, and if I can, I want to convince him not to go mad and kill all those people that will die if we fight--anything for humanity. Anyway, while we were talking about Dad, we saw him on TV fighting some type of gigantic lizard. If I have to fight him anytime soon, I am so fucked, especially since I am even weaker than the original Mark. After eating and contemplating the horrifying future ahead of me, I went to school.


I met a guy called William. It turns out he is my best friend, which is nice; I don't have to start from zero in the jungle known as high school. Good for me! We talked. He was already told that I won't remember anything specific, but I was still me, so he was not surprised by how I acted. He wanted to invite me to some kind of party, but I told him I had a job. If I don't go to it, I will get fired since they gave me almost two weeks off. If I did not come back, they would need to get a new hire.


I went to the job and did it in a way the coworker watching me told me to, since I had no idea what I was doing, but I guess I was able to do enough not to be fired. When I had to remove the garbage, I remembered this is when the original discovered his powers by throwing the garbage into the sky. With my current strength, I would be lucky if I made it past the roof of the Burger Mart I was working at. Oh well, time to go home.


Once I got home, dinner was already ready, but Dad was not here yet.


"Hello, Mark. How was your day?"


"I am having a great day. When Dad comes home, there is something I would like to tell you both. Other than that, how about you?" The conversation went on like that until--


"Sorry I was late; there was an enchanted flood in Egypt. I had to deal with it on the way home." There was a whoosh of wind, and Dad was sitting on a chair next to Mom. She asked if he took care of that dragon thing from earlier, and he said he did it by finding the person controlling it. He said keeping the civilians safe was the hard part. I am still having a hard time believing this man is an intergalactic conqueror, but the deal with my patron is clear: I have to make the story as less gruesome as I can. There is no punishment, but I was chosen because my personality does not allow me to ignore all the horrid shit that will come, even if I doubt I am the most qualified of the people that fit that description. While I was off in Imagination Island, I heard--


"So, Mark, what was that you were saying earlier about telling us both something?" Well, time to come clean.


"Ok, so I got my powers?" They were quiet for a while.


"...Are you sure?" Damn, Dad, right in the feels.


"Don't ask that. Congratulate him. That is great. I am so happy for you," and Mom is for the win.


"I am sorry; I did not mean to disbelieve you. I am happy for you too." Dad follows up, but he is going to need to try harder to be forgiven.


"There is actually something weird about my powers. The way you speak of it, all Viltrumites have the same powers, right? Flight, super strength, senses, and speed--the whole shebang. But you did not say there could be deviations."


"Yes, to my knowledge, all Viltrumites have the same powers since it is just part of our DNA and not a mutation or something like that. Why ask that?" Ok, time to bluff.


"Well, when I got my powers, I instinctively understood what they were, so I don't think it was just my DNA. But other than that, my powers seem to be different. First, I have a regeneration power. I just tested it with a small cut, but the knowledge I told you about tells me I would be able to come back from anything, not just heal from small cuts. The other thing I got is the more damage I receive, the stronger my body gets. After I had tested the regeneration by making a cut on my palm, I wanted to test if my strength increased, so I stabbed my hand again, but this time it took more force to cut my hand. I kept on repeating this same exercise until the knife bent before making a scratch on me. So I was wondering why my powers are different than yours." He was totally shocked and silent for a while.


"Are you sure? I have never heard of anything like this on Viltrum."


"Well, we can test it if you want. I can't cut myself with a knife because the knife would bend before cutting me, but with your strength, I guess just a pinch would be enough to tear off some flesh, and we could go on from that."


"Fuck no! What do you mean you've been stabbing yourself the entire day? You are so grounded that by the time I allow you to leave the house, it will be in a casket because you died of old age." I forgot Mom was there for a moment. Good thing her scream was able to remind me. Bad thing, I remembered after I had made her angry.


"I am sorry, but it was such an interesting thing I just had to keep at it until I saw the knife bend. I did not even know time was passing, and it seems I don't feel that much pain. That should help, right?" The not feeling pain part is a lie. I was able to keep at it because I had another power, one that helped me imitate infinite willpower or something like it. My mind is perfectly untouchable; no pain would be enough to make me give up, and no mind control would work on me. Which is a good thing considering I would be going through some rough fights--against horrifying opponents.


"Mark, why did you even decide to test if you have a regeneration power?" Her voice is so caring it hurts.


"Well, when I got the knowledge, I really wanted to know if it was the truth. I even made my first cut so small a band-aid would have been enough to fix it if I was wrong. I just increased it after knowing it was accurate." I am trying to be reassuring, but I don't know if it is working. I did not choose mind reading as a power.


"...Haaa, fine. I am willing to allow this, but every time you come home, I am checking you, and if I see so much as a scratch, all of it will stop. Is that understood?" The way she said it, it was clear this was for both of us, and it was not a negotiation.


"Yes, ma'am," was my response.


"I will make sure he is fully healed before I do any additional damage, I promise." It seems Dad's response was enough for her to allow this.


"So when do we get to test it?" I really wanted it to be soon. I want to get stronger.


next morning


Knock, knock, knock. "Mark, get up, it is training time." The sun is not up yet. What do you mean, time to train? I might not need to sleep, but I want to. This is so wrong... That is all I was able to think before I opened the door and was ready to start the training.


"Where are we going to train, and how?"


"Well, the first thing we are going to test is to make sure you can fly. If you can do that, then we can begin with the rest. Get out of your room using the window."


"Cool, I did not get any instinctive knowledge of flight, but I think I can do it." While I did not choose flight as a power, my patron did say that there are some surprises for me that will allow for convenience. The hospital thing is one of them, and I don't think I will be able to participate in the big fights unless I have some form of flight. If I don't have a natural one, I will just get someone to make me a tech to do it, but it would be very convenient if I could just fly. When we left the window, I was sure the fall would not be able to damage me, but it was still a fall down, and I was scared.


"What if I can't fly? I could fall."


"I will make sure to catch you if you can't."


"You say that, but what if you don't, for the giggles?" I did not finish the sentence before he threw me off the roof.


"See, you can do it."


"What the hell? Why did you do that? What if I fell and had broken a bone or something?" I know I would have been fine with a broken bone, but still, I am scared of heights.


"Then we would have seen how far your regeneration goes. You said you would come back from anything, right? So a broken leg would have been fine."


"What about Mom? If she saw you broke my bone, you would be sleeping on the sofa for a year at the very least."


"...You are fine, so let's not talk about nightmares, alright?"


With that over with, we flew to an empty forest. My speed is not too impressive, not even much faster than my running speed. It was only a little better because I did not have to push against the ground again and again; it was more of a consistent pull to where I wanted to go, so it was a little better.


But I can increase it by increasing my strength, so the faster I move and the more pressure I put on my body, the stronger my body gets from my second power, and the faster I can go. I even saw some improvement before getting to the forest.


In there, we tested my regeneration. It required Dad to beat me up a lot to be sure of it. I guess the one thing I have over the original is that I can take a lot more punches and get back up.


At one point, he blew off one of my arms, and he was actually scared, but like I said, I was able to heal from anything. I mean, I did choose Undead from Undead Unluck as a power, which guarantees I will be back even if someone destroys all my cells or something like that.


Once he understood how powerful my regeneration was, he kept adding to the damage, but he had started to get worried about pain.


"Are you sure you are fine? Sure, you are healing, but you don't have to keep at this for this long."


"Like I told Mom, since I got my powers, I don't feel that much pain, so I can keep this up."


"Well, it does not matter if you can keep this up; it is morning already, and your flight is slow. Let's go home."


"You don't have to insult me that much. My speed is increasing with my strength, so I will be able to get back home in half the time."


"Good for you. Now let's go home."


And that was how I spent my morning. After that, I went to school, and everything was normal. There was nothing interesting, but after school, I had to see how I could handle actual heroics.


There was some type of chase, and I decided to help. The problem with that is the criminals had a super with them, and that resulted in me getting my face caved in until Omni-Man showed up and stopped them.


But I can't believe I lost my first fight that decisively. I could have probably stopped them, but it would have taken too long, and the other guys would have been able to escape. I am glad Dad was there to help.


When he saw the rags I had decided to call a costume, he kept laughing and promised to let me meet the guy who makes his suit.


At least, unlike the original, I already know what costume I want it to be... Ok, it is the exact same one, the blue and black the original Mark had, except the letter "I" on mine means Invictus and not Invincible, which is a nod to one of my powers as well as my name.


I decided to describe it to Art Rosenbaum


"So, what do you think of my idea with my name? It should be exactly what I am looking for, right? Other than the color scheme and the letter, you have artistic decisions."


"The idea is good. The color is up to you, and putting the first letter of your name as the emphasis is done by many. So yeah, just give me a few days, and I will make a costume that will make you proud."


"Yes! I can't believe I am going to be a hero."


I was actually excited--I mean, can you judge me? I was going to go big. With my power, I will be affecting the world, and that simply has never been in my life path.


The next interesting thing I did was try out the new suit when it was completed, and man, believe me when I say this--it is addicting. Just imagining the adoring fans… I am so lucky my mental power protects me from massive ego just as easily as it does from terror, or everyone would have said, "Hello, Homelander."


While I was flying and testing the suit, there was a huge explosion, which just so reminded me I am in Invincible. I wonder how many people had to die because one guy felt his dick was too small.


It has been a few days since I started training with Omni-Man. He can still rip my flesh with a pinch of light strength for him, but it was enough to increase my strength and therefore my speed to be enough for me to arrive at the building before many people could fall.


Some definitely died from the laser bursting through them, but the building did not fall, so the casualties were limited.


There were some people who fell, but I was lucky enough to get to the ones that were already falling before they hit the ground. And as for the rest that would have definitely jumped because of the fire, I was able to get to them before the fire forced them to jump.


"Ohh, thank God, I thought I was going to die."


"Holy fuck, what the fuck happened?"


"I am going to puke."


"I am sorry, I can't stay with you now. I have already called 911; they should help. Please stay here and wait--you might be hurt somewhere you don't know about, even if you totally feel fine."


Now to get to the motherfucker that thought it was smart to shoot a laser that can pierce through skyscrapers in a fucking city…


The motherfucker shot another one.


I had to do the same with the second one as well. Again, the building did not fall, so that is something--but this motherfucker is going to need a little more than just jail.


By the time I got to him, he was bragging to the police about the laser. Does this thing even understand he killed over a dozen people just like that?


When I got to him, I did not do some frontal fight or something like that--I flew from his back and flew him to the sky. I made sure to break the arm cannon thing just to make sure he does not shoot the city from the sky.


"Aaaaaahhhhhhh! What the hell? Who the fuck are you?"


I stopped the flight a few kilometres high, just enough to get cold but nothing fatal.


"Hey, listen to me, you waste of scrap metal. You just killed over ten people. Now, instead of screaming, it is your turn to tell me why I should not just keep flying up until you are dead and your frozen body floats in Earth's orbit forever."


The Invictus power really helps me not puke just imagining all the casualties, but it also helps me handle killing. If I really need to, I can kill him without feeling unbearable guilt. I would still need to make the decision, but it is one I can make without fearing crippling PTSD.


"Wait, wait, wait, man! I was just shooting to the sky. I did not mean to actually kill those people."


"When I got to you, you were bragging about putting a hole in a building. Did you think that was not going to kill someone? What if the building fell on itself? You could have ended up killing hundreds."


"I am sorry! I am so sorry! Please don't kill me! I don't want to die!"


That is all he got after killing all those people? I don't want killing him to taint my interaction with other heroes, but is that really enough for me to keep him alive?


No, I can't be known as a violent vigilante. Killing him would be nowhere near enough to actually help society, and if killing him makes other heroes more likely to distrust me, that would be even more damaging. So I can't actually kill him.


Being so callous about killing him might sound insane, but Invictus really helps with guilt. It does not make killing easy or anything, but if it is required, it makes guilt not a problem.


But it does not matter. For now, he will have to be left alive. But that does not mean I have to let him go with a slap on the wrist.


I had already removed the arm, but now I will remove the tech that lets him control it mentally, and anything else that is not necessary for his survival and not biological. His legs are actually real, not machines, so no removing them. But I can remove all his costumes and leave him naked.


That should be embarrassing and make working with other criminals harder, and by that, make his escape even harder. When I decided to take him down, I decided to fly him really fast. So he kept screaming, and he even shat himself, which should keep adding to the damage to his reputation.


By the time we arrived and I had dropped him, he was lying on the ground crying, and there were reporters with cameras. It should do.


Hopefully, this won't result in people calling me a pervert or something like that.


There was one brave reporter who was willing to actually speak instead of just freezing, and he asked for my name.


"I am Invictus."

 

[Gan Sky]

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Chapter 2 {time skip}


The next few days were normal. My dad and I kept the training. By now, my durability, strength, and speed have improved to the point that it takes him an actual try to pinch my flesh off. Not saying it takes an effort, but it is still much better than it was when I took down the cyborg wannabe.


Of course, since this is Invincible and it is a horrid world to be in--and God does love to remind me, so Donald Ferguson asks me and Mom to go to the GDA headquarters. So I fucking knew this is because the Guardians are dead, and it was my father that did it.


I kept wondering if there was anything I could have done differently. I even started to think I should have said something about my father and Viltrum to Cecil. The problem was, I did not choose to have actual knowledge of the story, so I did not know what or when things happened. It would have been utterly useless and maybe even harmful.


So in the end, with that knowledge and Invictus to help me control myself, I was able to keep my decision.


When we got to the headquarters, we went down a fast elevator for a long time. Donald kept on trying to reassure us that Nolan was receiving the best aid possible, something about having the best hospital.


I saw some Quinjet-looking aircraft, and they were impressive, but I was distracted by trying to keep a straight face. Hopefully, they think it is because I don't want to show a hurt face to other people, and they don't interrogate me. But I think Invictus would be able to help me lie if I need it. After all, enough willpower should be able to allow me to control my facial expressions.


When we arrived in the room Nolan was staying at, Donald told us he is still in a coma. Mom rushed to him, but I could not. I already know too much to be able to act with sincerity, and I don't really want to use Invictus to fool my mother. I walked to him and just said,


"He will be fine," which I believed, so it was not hard to say it.


Out of the corner, Cecil shows up and says,


"And when he gets better, we will ask him about what happened, since he is the only survivor. All the guardians of the Globe are dead."


Mom was shocked to hear this. As for me: "All the Guardians of the Globe and my father were in one room, and you are telling me someone or something managed to kill all of them and put my father in a coma?"


"It is hard to believe, but that is the best we got."


"What about video recording?"


"We are looking through everything we can get right now, but we just discovered this happened, so we don't have any idea now. I will tell you more later. For now, I just wanted to inform you both before this gets to the media."


While Cecil was explaining that to us, Donald gets some type of notification, and he tells Cecil there is an attack downtown--something about multiple people with heavy weaponry. I decided I should go and help.


When I arrived there, I saw a red portal with an army of green men walking through it, and behind them were tanks. They had better technology, and they were in a civilian area, so they just kept shooting at escaping civilians in the back. I tried to carry someone out of the way, but a laser got both of us. Sure, my durability has increased, but that laser just went through me like it did the man behind me.


Invictus kept me from being incapacitated by both the pain and the dread of all the death around me.


If durability was not going to do it, I decided to fly straight at the soldiers. They put a lot of holes in me, but I was able to move faster using Repair Boost, which is when I use my regeneration to push my blood extremely fast out of my body and use it as a propulsion. The original holder of this power was able to do the exact same thing, so it was not some new discovery, but I was able to use it to speed my way through a few of them, distracting a good bit of the soldiers.


At one point, they tried to shoot a tank laser at me, even if I was in the middle of their own ranks. But maybe they thought that they would be able to kill me, and the soldiers were a necessary sacrifice. I don't fucking know, but a pink shield was able to keep me safe by redirecting the laser blast to a building, which probably did more damage than just letting it hit me. But I am not going to blame someone for trying to save me.


A group of heroes had arrived at the battle. I know them, actually--they are the Teen Team, a group of younger heroes that the original befriends. There was the discount Gambit, Rex Splode, I believe. There was an Asian woman who kept cloning herself and making more whenever she wanted. Somehow, her costume was able to count the clones and was able to show the number of the clone. I have no idea how that is possible--maybe some type of internet connection. I wonder how her power works. They are actually rather amazing. The next one was a robot-looking dude called Robot--very on the nose, but he seems cool. And last but not least, the woman who can manipulate matter, and if her limiter is removed, she can even warp reality. That is one scary girl. She is also kinda immortal, since if she dies, her limiter is temporarily removed and she just brings herself back like nothing.


She told me to leave, maybe to protect me, but I just kept on fighting. I managed to defeat some soldiers, but they just kept coming, and for a few seconds, I really did not know how we were going to stop them. But the aliens started to turn grey and old--they got scared and started running. I had managed to get some people to safety, but there were still so many casualties.


Without Invictus, I would be shivering in a corner. I mean, I knew I would need it, but to need it this fast, for this much--it just feels wrong.


I managed to bring a few heavily injured people to the GDA, but this time to a hospital located above ground. They said they can't take more now, and I would need to take the rest to different hospitals. I spent my day digging people from under falling buildings and transporting them to hospitals. I used my super senses to make sure there were no living people trapped anywhere.


Once the whole tragedy was over, I finally relaxed. I went to where they were keeping Nolan, and I just started to cry. Sure, I don't need it thanks to Invictus, but there is no way I am going to keep it active forever. It would simply turn me into some type of drone, and I don't want that, so I just let myself go and cried my grief out.


At some point, Mom came back from wherever she was. Donald was there with her, maybe for some type of moral support, but it does not matter--I did not really notice them for a while.


The next day, I went to school like I did not see a massive murder spree. I don't even know how the school was allowed to be open.


At lunchtime, I met the civilian identity of Atom Eve. She had recognized me because, at some point, one of the aliens had blown my face off, and unlike the clone girl, my clothes don't regenerate with me.


She wanted to talk about yesterday. Since she did not know about me before, she was wondering if I was alright, even if I was acting professionally at the time. She said she was impressed, but I just told her it is one of my powers.


She said to meet the team after school and told me to meet her at the front gate after class so she could lead me there, and we separated there.


Some guy named Todd kept harassing me, so I just broke his finger, which resulted in a talk with the principal that went along the lines of "Don't waste your future for him," but I did not get any punishment. Turns out he had kept on harassing me because I had somehow interfered with him trying to get a date with this girl called Amber. She said thanks, and we talked for a bit before I had to leave to meet with Atom Eve.


Once she decided to lead the way to the group hideout/HQ, she wanted to do some parkour racing, which was just flying loopy loops around me.


"Just you wait, once I am able to fly faster, I will do the same to you."


"Dream big, but make sure you can handle the disappointment."


Oh, it is on. I am so going to prank her. It took a while with her just playing with me, but we finally got to the HQ and it was hidden like the x-men blackbird is hidden under an openable roof, even if i was not told it was an openable roof, i was still able to turn my fall in to a super hero landing with my legs bent and one of my arms of the floor, ohh she is going to get a pie to the face.


Right after I stabilize myself, I start to admire the building. It was actually cool--there was this massive library filled with books and a computer area that just looked amazing, but Robot was there, and I don't think he would allow me to play games on it.


While I was enjoying the view, she walked to Rex Splode, and they started to kiss each other. The moment they were done, Eve introduced me to Rex Splode, only for him to turn some lint in his pocket into bombs and leave them on me. When I moved my hands down, they exploded--not enough to harm me, but enough to startle me.


Robot welcomed me and apologized for Rex Splode being incorrigible. Eve followed with, Rude, and Rex just said he was bored.


Then Dupli-Kate introduced herself by making three of herself. I decided to see which was the original by the number on her costume and shook the hand of the one with the number one on her chest. Although it did not make her happy, I wonder if that is because I stared at her chest or because she is a hive mind and each body is no different than a finger for her.


Eve asks Robot if he got anything from the fight scene, and he says the Flaxan--right, that was the name of their species--were temporaly something, and that is why they were dying of old age. He said he built some type of scanner to find them if they come back.


Rex starts complaining about not missing all the death and screaming, which was natural, but what does Robot have to do with the Flaxans coming back again? Robot just replied that the technology should give us a few minutes of prep time.


He said that Cecil and the GDA wanted to call on them for emergencies because the Defenders of the Globe were indisposed… by that, he means dead, but I don't know if he knows about that. He asked if I would be willing to help; I said I would love to, and we exchanged contact info.


I went back to the GDA hospital to help Mom if she needed any help with taking care of Nolan, but she was not there, so I sat next to him and just de-stressed. I had turned off Invictus since the battle was over, but I have yet to fully let out all my grief--almost three hundred people dead, and it was only limited to that degree because I flew directly to the soldiers and drew their fire inwards. If not for that, it would have been more.


A little later, Mom had arrived, and we talked about how sad it was and that she was there for me if I needed her. I got to see some of the other civilians I brought over. Mom thought it would help if I saw the people I saved, and it did, even if it was not enough. I can't let things like this happen again. She decided to stay the night here again, so I did the same.


The next day, when I was eating lunch with William--whom I was getting along with--he kept on going on about me dating Eve. I told him she has a boyfriend. His reply was to be better than him and steal her. While I was laughing at that, Eve came to our table and told me to talk outside, which just absolutely shut William up. Until I stood up and left, I kept hearing him make the fish sound by opening and closing his mouth. Just fantastic.


The moment we left the cafeteria, she told me the Flaxans were back, and we needed to go there now to fight them. Thank God for matter manipulation, because it took her only a few moments to recreate my costume from the clothes I was already wearing. We flew as fast as we could and arrived at some type of rooftop. Rex was the first to greet us with suspicion. She told him we went to the same high school.


While that was going on, Robot told us to look down, and I saw it. The gate this time was massive, and the army coming out split into three different directions. My God, the casualties are going to be massive. I decided to fly as fast as I could to the tanks, and I managed to take down one of them by shoving my arm in the cannon and using repair boost to push deeper and clog the cannon when it made its shot. But that was all I was able to do.


They prepared for us. They had something to cover Eve's face and some type of quick-dry cement to stop me. Trapping me is actually very effective until I learn to move my soul from my head and the biggest part of my body, and make clones from small parts like fingers. until then traping me is the best way to remove me from a fight. The problem is, I have no idea how to even begin with that. My regeneration is always automatic. The most control I have with it is to amp it up and fire my body parts as bullets, which is really not what I am looking for.


That is until the general of this army--at least I think he is the general because he was wearing a fancy cape--anyway, the general holds a gun to Eve's face and says something in his language. I shouted for a little while, but in the end, I managed to cut my tongue and shoot it at him. The problem was, even with my durability, a tongue is a soft muscle, and all it did was just distract him, which was good enough because I was able to use repair boost to rip half my body out of the cement. The rest was still there, but that did not matter. I was able to regenerate from the part of me that was outside. I flew directly to the general and kept on beating him bloody until Robot told me to help Eve.


When I was removing the face hugger thing on her, the general got up and was about to fire at us until his hand band broke and he started to turn old. After Dupli-Kate and Rex freed Robot, he told us to give him time so that he could do something about the armbands. It took him only a few seconds to make some kind of speaker and shatter all their armbands just like that. Man, I like this guy--he is amazing.


The aliens started to run to the portal. I had been thinking about this for a while now, but I am entirely too weak to fight against Omni-Man right now and all the other overpowered people I will be meeting in the future, so what better place to train than a time-dilated dimension?


I had decided on this action both with Invictus on--for logic--and without, just to make sure I wanted this for myself. The decision had already been made. I did not even take a few seconds. Before the last guy escaped, for some reason, he decided to turn back and pick his hands up, but I was already flying at him, and we both got in the portal.


Pov changes


Teen teem


"No, Invictus!" Eve screamed.


"What the fuck?" Dupli-Kate was just as shocked.


"That was not within expected parameters." Robot's voice did not change, but he was just as surprised.


"What the hell was that? Why did he just fly in there?" Rex was confused.


"Robot, can you make the portal from here so that we can follow?"


"I am sorry, Eve. It would take me at least a month to do that, and by the technological advancement they made in just three days, it would be entirely too long from our direction. He will need to be able to come back by himself."


Debbie grayson


"No, he can't be gone. Nolan just got better, and you are telling me I am going to lose my son."


"We don't know why he did it either. He said his regeneration brings him back from any injury. Maybe he thought that would stop aging, but even then, I don't know why he would go there. It just does not make any sense." Cecil was the one who had to deliver the bad news.


"Even if the regeneration would not help, he is still a Viltrumite. He can survive for a long time. I want you to make the portal. Even if it takes you a month, I am sure he will be fine, and I will go there to get him back." Nolan does love his son, even if it is complicated.


Pov general


It took only three days from Earth's side for a new portal to come out, but this time, instead of an army, only one man came from the portal. His body shape looked the same, but his costume was different. Instead of the blue and black they knew about, it was instead a white and grey.


The moment he got out, the portal behind him closed. Robot had made the scanner better, so they had about ten minutes' warning before the opening. So they had time to call backup. The Teen Team was there, so was Omni-Man, and Cecil had just teleported in. A lot of GDA agents were already here, and many more were following them.


Once the portal was closed, Omni-Man flew directly to Mark. He was not sure if this was Mark, but he wanted to make sure.


"Mark, is that you?"


"Dad, you are already up? It should have only been a few days here, right? I don't think I took all that long. So did you fully heal?"


"Why did you fly into the portal? You knew time passed differently there. How old are you now?" There were many more questions like that.


"Can I please sit first?"


"Actually, I would like to hear some answers too. Let's have this talk privately."


"Cecil, if you try…"


"Of course. You can join us, Debbie. Robot, you come too. But that will be all for the Teen Team. Robot will tell you anything not classified."


Mark grayson


Even now, I believe I did the right thing by going to the Flaxan dimension. Sure, the long time I spent there as public enemy one was shit, but it was bearable with a hefty dose of Invictus. I still gave my mind time to relax and miss my family, not just Mark, but my original family too. I do miss them very much, and being able to express my sadness through crying without fearing notice and also rage killing many, many assholic soldiers helped me.


Even if I might be a little bit different, it should not be too big. By the time I had gotten out, I had defeated a Flaxan king and helped a revolutionist take charge. I had, of course, made sure the new king is nothing like the old king, even if I had to try again and again. The last one was not some type of monster in one way or another.


But that was not what took me such a long time--only about one of my three decades of staying there. By the end, the role of a king was starting to be hated and feared, as every time a new king comes by and does some stupid shite like enslaving parts of their own population, they end up dying realy fast.


What took the longest was recreating the portal and making sure to destroy any knowledge about how to make one. I am sure they would be able to make one, but it won't be to Earth, since I spent some more time making sure to hide Earth from dimension scanners. They might be able to make it at this point, but if they managed to make a portal to Earth and start invading again, I am ready to throw a planet to a fucking star.


I would bet I could convince myself it must be done, and Invictus would help the guilt go away, even if I won't break my now iron-clad rule of making decisions out of the power first. The decision is made with a normal mind state, and then infinite willpower is used to carry out the mission.


Anyway, I was honest with the questioning


"As for why I went in there, the first time they came, they killed more than two hundred innocent civilians. They did not think of us as equals. The second, I was not there to count, but since the army was bigger and they lasted longer, I would bet the casualty count was even higher. I simply could not allow for a third one to occur. After all, if you have the power to stop something bad from happening and it does happen, then it is your fault--and I simply could not make that mistake twice."


"As for how long I spent there, turns out the time difference was about one day here to a decade there. So I technically lived there longer than here. The problem is, I was Public Enemy one and was not able to make any actual friends. Even when I thought I made one, it would turn out to be some type of spy, or betrayal for money, or a hostage. So I just stopped caring real fast. The way I was speeding through all of it, I barely have any life experience in the world. Would you believe me if I told you I had not eaten any food for over a year?"


"Why did you not eat, and how are you alive then?"


"Well, you see, Cecil, the food in there is horrid and poisonous for a human. I had kept eating it because it helped my body get stronger, but in the end, unless I was extracting the pure poison, it was not able to damage me anymore, so I had just stopped. And as for surviving, it turns out my regeneration doesn't even let me feel hunger. Although I would kill for you if you bring me a cheesy and overly meaty hamburger," I said the last part with pure honesty. I no longer have a problem with killing so long as I can agree they are assholes, and for actual food, I would definitely commit a crime.


And I guess he believed me because--


"Donald, get me the cheesiest, most meatiest hamburger from Burger Mart. Actually, bring me five."


"Don't think that means I am willing to kill five people for you, but thank you so much."


They had a few other questions--things like, could they come back? The thing is, the scanner blocker I made is really effective. If they come back, it would be in like a decade for us, so nothing to worry about. And if they are still a functioning civilization and kept records of their war, we are so fucked.


The next two days, I just slept. I could have stayed up since I really did not need any sustenance, but I really wanted to indulge. And since I was safe from some type of capture, it was easy. Again, thank God for Invictus. I would have probably broken if it were not for Invictus.


Mom was worried when I slept for twenty hours straight, and she woke me to eat something. And I did--it was a delicious ham salad, and I do mean it was delicious, not just because I had not eaten good food for more than two-thirds of my lifespan.


After shoving the food, I just kept on sleeping. It was a truly divine time.


After the good time, there was some ruckus about the Guardians of the Globe missing and local champions having to hold responsibility, but that was just some blip on the TV between my sleep time.


The more interesting topic was that Cecil came over to our house to give us more work about a guy who was coming from Mars. I did not know who he was talking about until Nolan said he had fought him and thrown him back to where he came from.


Then I remembered the alien known as Allen and said I will take care of it.


Mom was definitely against it, but I was not injured, but Nolan was. There was nobody else who could actually do anything about it, so it took more than a few minutes, but we were able to convince her I had to do it.


Flying to space now is hilariously easy, especially since the farther I was from the ground and any humans, the faster I was able to fly. By now, I would bet I could even give Nolan an actual fight, so I am way stronger than the original Mark.


After a few seconds of flight, I was able to arrive at the atmosphere, and I was already seeing an orange cyclops. I remember this part of the story--actually, it was all a misunderstanding. So I will just bury Allen on the moon and keep him from moving, which is hilariously easy with how much stronger than him I was.


While I was flying him, he said something about me removing my mustache, and once we arrived at the moon, I told him he got the wrong person--that is my dad, and I am a different person.


I just kept holding him and said


"Hey, can we talk? I don't think you're really evil, so I don't really want to kill you. So stop struggling."


"You want to use your time-out?"


"I get a time-out?"


"Yeah, you get a time-out. Don't look at me weird, I don't make the rules."


We sat on some moon rocks.


"What are these rules, and who made them?"


"As for the rules, there are too many to just talk about. And, well, they are the law, so everyone in the Coalition of Planets follows them."


I then ask who he is. He said he was an evaluation officer for the Coalition of Planets, and his job is to make sure planets like mine have a strong protector against planet-conquering monsters. I wish one were not already there.


I told him I had no idea what he was talking about, and he gave me the crucial information to expose this misunderstanding--the planet's name. When I told him he got the wrong planet, he was dejected about being fired, but he left peacefully.


Leaving me to enjoy the view of the earth in the sky, covering the sun behind itself -it was beautiful. I made a promise to myself that I will protect it with all I've got.

 

[Thiccc Shaedy]

Thanks for the chapter.

 

[loudlistner]

Chapter 3 {too old for this shit}



It took a little too long just looking at the planet in front of me. Turns out it was long enough for Nolan to worry, and he came flying--only to see me just smiling and dangling my legs on a moon rock.



We spent time just enjoying the view since we were in space, and we could not talk to each other. Even if he is going to go all destroy Earth and I will need to fight him, until then I am going to keep being his son. Maybe I will be able to convince him that it is better to be on our side. If he really does not want to, I am sure I can actually defeat him, even if I were using Division Bullet to make clones of myself.



The next few days were quiet. I did not have a monster to fight, nor were there big villains. All the small ones were being taken care of by the other heroes.



But then it was time to do the public funeral for the Guardians of the Globe. Everyone who was anyone was there. I think there were actually some villains too--the ones that promised not to cause any trouble and came just to pay respect.



As for those who could not make it, the TV coverage was insane. Of course, it covered the United States, but even after that, it was also being spread across different countries and different continents with subtitles and translators.



And to such a big coverage, my father-the--killer of the Guardians--said words that kept on making me want to break his face in. I even used Invictus to keep myself calm when he looked at me and said he would protect us.



A few hours later



The real burial was a more private affair. I didn't know why we were doing it twice until Eve told me it was because people might steal their corpses if the actual location got out. That's fucked up, but with all the mad geniuses out there, there might really be someone able to clone them or something like that. So I guess it's a good precaution.



In the second one, Omni-Man also said a few words. These ones were more personal, and he was saying the Guardians were his friends and he was truly sorry to have lost them.



Funnily enough, I really think he believed it. They just were not more important than his own species. A species of less than a hundred planet-enslaving monsters, it would have been funny if it were not a tragedy.



When the caskets were being lowered, I think--the wife of Red Rush, her name was Olga, cried loudly and fell into the mud. My mom decided to go and help her.



And after the caskets were put down, everyone started to go back to their cars. I saw a red demon-looking thing talking to Omni-Man. It was not a fight, and no one was running away from the scary-looking man, so I decided not to do anything.



After we got home, I sat on one of the sofas. Nolan opened the TV only to see his public speech. He did not really like that, so he tried to change the channel, only to find the same thing on every channel. He just gave up.



At one point, Mom asked me to call William, and for a few moments, I did not know who she was talking about. It took me using Invictus to remember William was that one kid I was talking to before I went to the Flaxan dimension. I think my facial expression just made them remember I am way older than I look. For Nolan, it was nothing weird, but Mom started to cry. We managed to get her to calm down and hopefully forget, but that was not possible.



A little later, I decided to go to my room. There wasn't really anything for me to do, so I went to sleep in an hour or so. It is super easy for me to go to sleep and wake up at any time I want. There is the constant vigilance training I got from trying to run away from anyone trapping me for the first few years, but also, Invictus really is amazing.



I am even able to make a mental palace from fiction using it, although I can't really access it while Invictus is turned off. But whenever I decide to sleep, I turn it on and just go through my past memories, sometimes even using it as a way of simulating different outcomes to past events.



The next day, I was in a huge building with Robot. He was trying to convince me to join the new Guardians, but I decided not to, since right now I am just trying to make sure Mom is not even more shocked. At this point, high school is less than useless to me, but if it means she has some level of normalcy to cling on, I really don't mind--even if I have more knowledge in my brain than any library the school could have, even if I can't always access it.



I told him that my mother would want me to finish high school and that I want to make her happy, so being part of the new Guardians was simply out of the question. I told him I am willing to help him with anything so long as he asks. I even told him I technically have knowledge he does not, so if he wanted to, he could call me to chat and help him with difficult things.



Then he asked me why I was here. I told him I really want to see the new generation of heroes. There was some sort of tournament to see who would be chosen as part of the new team, and in the first fight, Eve was super angry. She beat her opponent with a few punches--at one point, she made him do a belly flop, but interrupted it by punching him in the jaw and sending him flying. I am pretty sure that would have killed anyone normal. Good thing he had some sort of increased durability.



There was this one girl--she had the powers of Ant-Man. She went in the ear of her opponent and made him puke by messing with his sense of balance.



After the tournament was over, Robot was listing the names of the people he had chosen to be in the new team, only for Rex to take offence at someone called Monster Girl. At the beginning, I was also a little worried, since she looked really young, but I doubt Robot would make such a huge error--even if she had some amazing power--so I decided to just trust him. I also saw her tryout, but that is that, and this is this.



Rex was not so lucky. She also got angry, and they started to insult each other--he saying she was short and her saying he got a tiny dick. It was hilarious.



At some point, Rex started to use his powers on her. I was going to interfere until she turned to her other form and punched him through the glass panel… I thought those things were reinforced. She jumped down with him and started to hit him hard--he even flew to the wall from a single hit. I thought he had died, but it turns out he has some form of durability increase, because there is no way he got punched hard enough to fly multiple meters and did not shatter every bone in his body if he were a normal person.



She got even closer. He made some efforts to fight back, but his explosions just were not good enough. When she got to him, she kept on beating the ever-loving fuck out of him, so I decided to interfere.



When I got there, she tried to throw me away, but when I say I got stronger, I mean I've gotten really strong. She was better off rock-skipping a boulder. She kept punching, but I was able to calm her down when she realized I was not taking any damage.



After turning back to a girl, the two of them actually had some sort of amicable parting, although for some reason, Rex was angry at me and gave me the finger. I was just confused.



Why was I catching strays?



After the fight was over, Robot got back to announcing who was accepted, and it turns out all of the Teen Team was accepted as well. At first, it sounded weird and maybe unfair, but Robot really was impartial.



Only for the good cheer to go away when Eve said she was not going to be on the same team as Rex and Dupli-Kate, and stormed off. I decided to follow her to make sure the reality bender does not accidentally oops a few people.



While we were flying in the sky, she told me that Rex cheated on her with Dupli-Kate. So I can see why she's angry, but there really was nothing I could do to help her other than make her forget. So I decided to do that exact thing.



I used Parts Bullet to shoot a finger down and make a clone of myself. I also threw my credit card at my clone body and used the clone to go buy whipped cream. At one point, I was just letting her let loose her issues until my clone got back to me.



We were sitting on a bench, so I waited until she was done. After making sure she really was finished and not just pausing, I told her that she could handle it--but to call me or anyone else if she needed help. After all, she's not alone.



Then, I slapped her in the face with a paper plate filled with whipped cream.



Of course, I used super speed to do it and flew off long before she could react--but I still heard her scream of rage, mostly because the clone was behind her.



I made the clone dissolve after making sure I didn't hurt her feelings, and she just screamed in annoyance, which was indicated by her starting to laugh right after.



A few hours later, when I was home, William came to my room and told me he got the phone number of this girl called Amber and that he is now my wingman. He wanted to coach me on "how to get the girl."



The problem with that is, although my body does not look it, I'm still over fifty years old--and dating a high school girl would not just be weird but FBI-worthy. So I decided to tell him that it's a no-go for me.



He wanted to know if I was dating Eve and if that was why I didn't want that, but again, I made a face that confused him for a while, only for him to have a eureka moment and call me gay.



I told him I wasn't gay once I calmed down from my giggle fit. I don't even know why that would be his guess, for someone gay--his mythical gaydar must be some type of joke. But then he got back to asking why I don't want to go on a date with anyone. I just told him that I really don't want to do that.



While we were talking for a while, I got a phone call from an unknown number and decided to answer. It was Cecil. He told me to be in a private room. I told William that I needed to go to the washroom and left the room. I went to my parents' room, and out of nowhere, Cecil teleported in with a flash of light.



He told me that some rogue villain was doing damage to Mt. Rushmore. He said Eve would be joining to help. I was a little worried about how I left her last time, but having a reality bender happy is better than sad--even if there's a good chance now that, when I'm flying, I'll encounter some sort of prank.



Seeing my face, he asked if her joining sweetened the deal. I told him what I did and what was coming for me, all while I was wearing the earbud thing he gave me and getting ready to fly to wherever this mountain is.



While we were flying, he told us Omni-Man was too far and the new Guardians were not ready yet--he used different words, but that was the gist of it. He also told us the villain we were dealing with was an actual genius named Doc Seismic.



The problem is, he made gloves that allowed him to create earthquakes, with the side effect of concussions every time he used them. Very worthless for anyone without extreme healing powers. He also warned us to be careful because the location was a historical treasure.



When we got there, Doc Seismic was in the process of destroying the faces and had already succeeded in damaging one. I was able to stop the falling face from crushing a group of civilians, but when I tried to put it back where it was, he shot at me again, causing the face to crumble even more. There were no civilians near it this time, but it still wouldn't have been good otherwise.



Eve made a wall to hold the rocks from falling down and moved them to a safe place. Maybe someone can paste the faces back together. I don't know.



When we started to chase him, he actually used his tech as some sort of hoverboard. By the time we stop this guy, he's going to have gray fluid coming out of his nose.



He was actually quite maneuverable using them. He kept going on about joining his side and destroying the power structure. He told Eve her costume was pandering to gender roles--maybe because it was pink.



While she was distracting him--or at least I thought she was--I threw a rock at the guy. Maybe throwing earth at the dude who made a machine to break earth wasn't a good idea, but honestly, the result would've been the same with wood. Maybe I should have thrown myself at him. I'll see how that works out later.



Right after shattering the boulder I threw, he made a big quake and destroyed the whole ground. There was magma visible. This guy is actually dangerous. I was thinking he'd be easy.



Somehow, Eve was able to see a family in danger of falling into the magma from a long way off and made a bubble to protect them. She is one amazing hero. And while I was admiring that feat, she lost her footing and started falling into the magma herself, breaking her connection with the bubble.



Thankfully, the bubble didn't pop immediately, so I was able to get to the family before they started to fall into the magma. I figured Eve could handle herself, so I flew the family to a safe area. Once I made sure they were safe, I flew back to find Eve.



She wasn't flying in the sky, so she must have been on the ground. I kept calling her name, and she did answer. That's when I saw that the villain had his armbands damaged and was falling, so she decided to catch him.



The problem was, his brain damage was real. He decided to commit suicide by pushing her hand away. I was flying in to catch him, only for him to use his powers to push me away right as I was about to save him.



He also pushed the magma up somehow, which, trust me, was not fun to get cooked by. I flew out as fast as I could, but a good portion of me was burned, and magma was sticking to me. I just decided to use Parts Bullet and rip a healthy part of me away, then regenerate from that.



While I was doing all that, Eve was freaking out about me--and so was Cecil, even if I couldn't hear him since the earbud was in the wrong body. But I didn't know that.



Anyway, seeing two of me really freaked Eve out, so she screamed. I managed to calm her down, telling her I was fine. It took a while, but she eventually did calm down.



Once we made sure everyone was safe and that there was nobody trapped or dying, I started to say goodbye--only to see her make a kissing face at me.



Oh, fuck.



"Wait, wait, what are you doing?"



"Shit, sorry! I didn't mean to--"



"No, no, it's not your fault. But can you please see it from my place? I'm over fifty years old. Sure, most of that time I wasn't living a good human life in the Flaxan dimension, but I've still lived way too long to have any kind of romantic relationship with you. If I did, it would be very wrong."



"Oh shit... You spent that long in that dimension?"



"Yeah. It was just three days here, but in there it was three decades. So that's why I really can't be with anyone around my physical age. I'm sorry."



"No, no, no--you're right. That was so fucked up. I'm sorry for putting you in that situation."



She was mortified, but we managed to part on a positive note. I told her I'm here if she needs help, and to call me for fights that are a little too hard, even for a reality warper.



When I got home, Omni-Man had finished his fight against whatever enemy he was dealing with. And it looked like he'd finished a while ago, since he was in different clothes and had already showered.



When I got there, he told me, "It's your responsibility now," and said he was proud of me.



Which still... wrangled. Since I'll have to fight him soon. But I'll take the good with the bad.

 

[loudlistner]

Chapter 4 {in a land far, far away}

A few days later, Omniman wanted to do some training with me, so we went to the desert and started our training day. After all the time I spent in the Flaxan dimension, although I still could not defeat him in one-on-one, he can no longer rip my flesh without putting in hard effort. He was actually surprised by how I went from losing body parts from him shrugging too hard to having him require actual effort to damage me.

He wanted to see if I could take a punch, and I let him give it a go. He gave me a good punch, but it did not do anything--until he said, "Okay, that is good. That punch would have been able to incapacitate the Immortal," which brought the mood down, but only from my side. And that really just pissed me off more.

I told him to give it his all, and then it will be my turn to punch him. This time he went hard--and by that, I mean his arm went through my chest and out my back. Still gruesome, but nothing undead would have any trouble with.

This time he was standing perfectly still--well, flying, but you get my meaning. It was my turn to punch him. I am obviously not going to make Parts Bullets or use Repair Boost to amp my attack, but I was going to give him the strongest punch I can naturally generate.

I did it to his stomach, because that would have been more effective than trying to go through his ribcage. And let me tell you this--he was shocked when he got hit so hard he spat out of his mouth. It was not puke, but it was good enough.

That felt heavenly, and laughing while he was trying to catch his breath was just too delightful.

After a few seconds of him trying to catch his breath, when he noticed I was laughing at him, he made an angry face and said, "Let's race to Mount Everest--except the loser will have to do dishes." I really wanted to make fun of him even more, so I agreed without a second thought. Sure, I would lose on straight flight speed--and definitely since I don't know where we were going to--but being able to follow him should not be a problem. And at the last moment, I was definitely going to use Parts Bullet to shoot my finger ahead of me, even if I had to use Crimson Bullet to increase my finger's speed to a ridiculous speed at the cost of limiting my regeneration for a few hours.

It took us a good few minutes of racing each other. I really was able to keep up with him, even if he kept increasing his speed when I was about to catch up. But just as the mountain was in sight, I asked if this was the one--like I had done so for over a hundred times now--but the answer this time was yes. So I used Parts Bullet with Crimson Bullet combined to make sure I really was going to beat him. I shot my finger at a speed that would boggle the mind, and I really mean it--I have never done this before, never had a reason for it.

When he saw I was slowing down, he wanted to see what I was doing--his loss. There was a sound of a bullet being shot--that was my finger saying hello and goodbye to the sound barrier multiple times over. It was small enough not to cause an avalanche, but for Omniman, who did not even understand what was going on and was wondering why I stopped, it was just confusing. Which only resulted in him flying back to me and asking what that was about. When he saw my body disintegrate, he was so confused and I think almost scared--until I made a smiling face and told him to look to the front.

When he did that, there was a me already at the mountain, waving a hand at him and doing the boogie woogie dance.

"Who is going to do the dishes? That's right--you are going to do the dishes! Hahahahahahahah!"

I kept singing that song even when he begged me to stop, but there really was no easy way to stop a regenerator from talking--ask Deadpool.

For a while, it was just me making fun of Omniman the dishwasher, but at some point, we sat together and just started to enjoy the snow.

At some point, some guy came to the top of the mountain with just climbing equipment and a jacket--no superpowers or high-tech help. I was so amazed, I asked if I could take a picture with him. He spent days of his life in this cold mountain for whatever reason, without the need of a power like Invictus. Just amazing, that was all I got to say to it.

I flew him across the sky as he kept on recording and enjoying the view. I even told him I could take him down myself, but he said he would do it himself since that was the plan all along.

When he left, I took a big breath and asked Omniman:

"Isn't it amazing? Without the powers we hold or some high-tech tool to help, he made the hard effort to climb all the way here. Spent days of his life in a hostile environment, risking his life--how can anyone see that and not be enthralled?"

"It is rather impressive."

"Just impressive? For us, this would be no different than flying close to a star. I want you to tell me--how many Viltrumites have done anything like that? Gone close to a star where their life is in actual danger, all for an exercise or just to say they did it, not because it was needed but because they wanted to?"

"I don't know, but there would have been a few."

"Do you truly think so? I mean, for humans, that was a rare specimen. Even if someone had the training to do so, there is a good chance they wouldn't climb this mountain if they did not need to. For Viltrumite, it would be even worse--born with innate strength that can destroy mountains--how many of them are really brave or strong-minded and not just always safe? How many of them would risk their life for something that ultimately would be temporary and unnecessary?"

After that, we just spent a few minutes watching the sun while sitting on the ground closest to it. It was nice, and maybe this talk we had would be enough to tip him over to the side of humanity when it is time to decide which side to choose.

After spending a good time just like that, it was time to go back home. He wanted to make a bet about getting there first, and this time, of course, I would lose since he already saw my trick, but I still went with it--it would be a good challenge. Only for him to give me a little bit of a head start and then fly past me, breaking the sound barrier.

Ohh, it is on like an oven on fire.

We were moving nowhere close to my finger bullet from earlier, but it was still past the sound barrier, so we could not do it too close to the ground. It would not only cause massive map changes but also kill a whole lot of people. So we flew higher into the atmosphere and increased our speed even more. Here is when I really saw his actual speed--he is definitely faster than my bullet--and there is no way for me to actually use Repair Boost to increase my speed because of the Crimson Bullet I had fired earlier. Not only that, I had even forced a full-body regeneration from a finger right after that, when my regeneration should have been slowed.

Right now, I am not sure I can even heal from a paper cut, let alone give myself a Repair Boost.

So it was my defeat, and I humbly accepted to take the trash out for a month--something we have to do once a week.

And when we opened the door and got home, the first thing I said was:

"Hello Mom, I have brought you the world's best dishwasher! From now on, for a week, we don't have to clean a single plate, fork, or pot! All of it is for him! Make the most grimiest food possible and burn the pot because we've got a super strong dishwasher! Hahahahahahahaa!"

"Oh shit," that was all he got to say.

"What are you talking about now?"

"Well, he made a bet with me. If I were to beat him in a race, he would have to wash the dishes. And I beat him soundly, so the entire week, it is his job to clean. If he is out saving the world, that is not a problem because he will save us from the dishes when he comes back!"

I started to pick her up and fly her, only for her to slap me in the head and tell me to put her down.

It was starting to get dark when we arrived there, so I went to the washroom to wash myself. Flying into the sea was not enough to call myself clean. After spending a good hour cleaning myself from saltwater by using hot enough water to scald normal skin, I wanted to do one of my favourite activities before going for my next favourite--and that was to eat and sleep like a baby.

When I got down to the kitchen, Mom was doing her work and, sadly, there was no already prepared food, so I decided to make eggs and a hamburger with as much cheese and tomato on it to make it be considered some type of unholy pizza. Of course, all the dishes were left for Nolan to take care of.

When she saw what I had on my plate, I think she started to worry about my stomach, but I was able to convince her that my stomach can handle it, and no matter how much I eat, I really can't affect my health, so she let it go. I ate my food in my room--I did not want to entice her too much. Even if I had left a little, it was entirely too unhealthy for a normal human, so I decided to take the blunt force of this enemy myself.

After guzzling that amazing food imitation, I went to my second favourite activity: sleeping, only to get woken up with one hell of a tremor in the house. For a moment, I thought the earthquake guy somehow survived and attacked my home.

I went downstairs as fast as I could to at least take Mom away from there and let Nolan take care of the villain. But it turned out to be Cecil--something about finicky teleportation.

When everyone finally calmed down, he started telling us why he came here so abruptly. It turns out he wants Nolan to follow a rocket ship to Mars because it's the first manned mission, and that was cool and all… but why did he have to do this at midnight? Why not in the morning? And if it's happening sooner, why did he not already come to us earlier when the sun was up? Vampire wannabe.

Nolan said it was a no-go--he needs to protect the Earth and his family. I was also worried about him going all 'destroy Earth' without me here to stop him. But I do remember Mark did this mission in the original, so doing it shouldn't make me miss the fight. But I'm still worried.

I don't know how long it will take their spaceships to get to Mars and back, but without having to worry about collateral, I should be able to fly at my max speed and even use Repair Boost to come back faster. The problem is that if he were really determined, it wouldn't take him more than a few minutes to destroy civilization. All it would take is to just fly really fast at near ground level.

It took me a while to think it through, but I decided to go. I can't keep thinking I must be here forever. I also wanted to test if I can keep a clone for farther ranges. I can't even make a clone without using Invictus, but with it, maybe the infinite willpower would allow for infinite distance as well. I will test it.

If it could not be, then I will just follow the rocket like the original plan was.

But I'm definitely not going to let people know I can just make clones with the same level of strength as me, so it would need to be just a head, and even then, I would have to hide it. Maybe on a mountain, looking at the sky. Yeah, that will be the plan. Of course, that is for later since even with the rest I took, my regeneration is still hampered, not as bad as it was when I was flying home, but definitely not good enough to sustain just a head. I will have to make the clone in the morning.

I decided to volunteer. There was some talk about the mission lasting longer than I thought it was going to, but I still agreed to go.

After that, we just went back to what we were doing--at least that was the case for me: back to sleeping.

The next morning, I was ready to follow the ship to space. I was told not to actually be seen, so I have to fly and intercept the spaceship once it has reached space. They had prepared some sort of oxygen suit for me, but it was totally unnecessary. I really don't need any form of sustenance, so I flew to space and waited where the spaceship would attach to an even bigger spaceship.

And once everything had started, Cecile tells me the job is to keep the humans safe and also watch out for the Martians. Martian Man's species. I knew his home planet was Mars, but I thought his species had died out and he was the last--but I guess I was wrong.


It took a few days to get there, but I was actually surprised how fast this thing was moving. I thought I would be faster than it if I really tried, but I was hilariously wrong. Of course, I did not learn that by making a clone to race it -- there is no evidence. I kept myself hidden, and when the spaceship was going to land, I flew to a mountain far away to make sure I was not caught.


I was able to see the crew drop down by peaking my head. They were carrying some type of briefcases, and they started to pick up rocks. I guess it is for when they come back, although I really don't think there would be anything new since they already sent drones with chemical analyzing technology way back.

There wasn't anything really interesting going on, and even if Invictus allows me to not get bored--which is why I did not try to race the spaceship--I also still wanted some entertainment, so I started listening to some songs I had downloaded for this trip. I was still looking at the astronauts once in a while.

At some point, they started to move in a different direction. I kept an eye on them, and once they were far enough not to notice me, I started to follow. I made sure not to fly too fast, not to make a sandstorm.

They just kept on walking for hours and hours. I have no idea what is going on, but my job is to make sure they don't die, not to make sure they don't get sore legs, so I let them do their exercise.

At some point, they just disappeared, so I started moving closer and closer to where I saw them, only to see their footsteps stop in the middle of a flat ground. I looked around for a while, and I saw a line. Did they somehow manage to get in contact with the Martian species underground?

I opened the metal door only for some squid thing with a brain exposed to the air to jump at me. I hit that thing so fast, so hard, it evaporated--it was reflexes. But the creepy crawly had friends, and they were just as suicidal, but I decided not to kill these ones, just throw them away from me without hurting anymore.

After throwing away the ones that attacked me, I decided to follow the astronauts and go in that underground chamber. There were a whole lot of creepy crawlies, but these ones seemed to be asleep, so I made sure not to wake them. There were entirely too many.

At some point, there were fewer of those things and more rock formations. When I kept going deeper, one of the rock formations turned into a humanoid and held a sharp glowing stick at me. I did not want a fight, so I tried to talk to him, and he seemed willing to talk.

What I really don't get is how he is able to speak the Queen's English in god damn Mars. At some point, one of the brain things tried to attach itself to me again. I threw it away and somehow that was impressive--I don't get it--but they said they were willing to take me to their king.

Once we got there, I told the king that I was there to protect the humans, which they did not help with by saying they didn't know me, which is true, but come on. I said it was a secret mission, and again one of the humans said I am shit at my job. Are they suicidal or something? What is going on?

I told the king it would be great if he would allow all of us to leave. Turns out he does not want to let the humans leave because we are dealing with Starro from DC here, with the whole taking control of others and making them zombie soldiers.

He said the Martians are resistant to the mind control because the shapeshifting makes it impossible for the facehuggers to hug their faces. The problem is that humans don't have that protection.

As for me, I am sure Invictus makes any mind control useless, but the humans have to be executed.

So I decided the best way to handle this was to make clones and carry the humans really fast out of here--like really fast. I am sure some of them were about to puke, but I was able to get them to their spaceship before the Martians got out of their underground bunker.

Then we flew away to our peaceful home.

When I got home again, the house was shaking, but I was sure Nolan had gotten Mom away from the danger. When I opened the door, I saw they were sitting on a chair, and there was no Cecil or other villain to fight.

I was just so confused. She is a normal human--how were they able to shake the house?

Now, thanks to Invictus, it is now stuck in my head. Any time I activate Invictus it will be there, at least I know my connection to a clone is permanent unless I decide to destroy one body or another.

As for Mom and Nolan, they tried to act as if everything was normal. I just kept shaking my head and said good night.

Mom said something about chicken, but even food would not get me to come back to that minefield--not when I had the option of sleeping and avoiding the trouble.

 

[loudlistner]

s1ep5 {surprise mother fucker }



After that, there was nothing interesting for a while. The Kill Canon guy had somehow escaped--I have no idea how that happened; he does not have any of his tech on him--but he is lying low. Maybe the embarrassment was good enough to stop him for a while. I am definitely going to use that technique from now on. Not just ripping clothes, because that is just weird, and the public would definitely start calling me a pervert. But if I try to embarrass my enemies in a plethora of different ways, maybe they will stop being so stupid.



Other than small-time crime and training with Nolan, I was just going to school, and it was utterly stupid. At least for a few hours of the first day--when I got bored enough, I started using Invictus to access my mental library, and I went through different fights to see different outcomes. Most of them are me just fighting Omni-Man. The biggest feat I have seen him achieve is ripping through my ribcage on our first day of training after my stay in the flaxan dimension, and the speed when we were coming back home. So I was able to make a mental copy of him to fight.



The problem is, the mental copy is just that--a figment of my imagination. It does not have any of his skills or his experience. It was no different than fighting myself, but stronger, and that really did nothing for me. I could not even make new skills because I know my moves well enough to have already made counters. But I was still able to use the mind palace to relive relaxing moments like flying across the sky and sitting on the moon, and I was able to pass my time using it in class.



Like that, New Year's came and passed with nothing interesting happening. My family and I made a little celebration, but it was just us--until one day I fought this woman with a wolf face. She really had the face of a wolf with the bone structure of a human. It was so uncanny. I couldn't rip her clothes because I would get the FBI or the GDA on my door if I did that, but when I was done with her, I made a rope and bent metal to look like a collar and tied her to a metal post.



Probably got a few people laughing and a few insulting me for it, but I am just going to focus on the ones that laughed. When we were fighting, I say fighting, but it was mostly me standing and her trying to scratch me--but anyway, I threw her to the street and she broke someone's house. I was not paying attention because I had a dog face in my face. I apologized, helped them remove what they could, and called Cecil to help. He said something about owing him, but I am sure a government stooge like him will use the power of being able to command me, for the good of all of humanity. And if he decided to command me to do something that would be a no-go, then it is simple--I would not do it.



When I was fighting and running around, stopping small crimes, I ended up being late to work too many times. The boss decided he had cut me enough slack, even after the memory loss thing, and told me I would have to find a job somewhere else. Well, it is going to be an awkward night tonight when I would have to tell Mom I got fired from my job--but it was not going to be the end of the world. That is calendared to happen later, I don't know how far later, but I hope it takes a while.



The next interesting thing to occur was that I had to stop this mad scientist guy. And Omni-Man was there with me, and he wanted to see how I would do it. Getting to the guy was easy, and when I was about to just bring him to the cops, he went and blabbed about some type of gravity bomb. Honestly, I don't get why all these scientists go mad. If you had a gravity bomb, sell it to the government--not threaten to kill people to get money. Just so stupid.



I decided to fly him to the sky, asking the same question of where the bomb is every few seconds. He kept on saying he won't tell, until the air got thin and the temperature got below freezing. When he got cold enough, his answer to my repeated question changed. I made sure to repeat that question near his ear at a consistent interval of time, so it really messed with him. I was even interrupting his rant about being known and changing everything. Really--just be a politician. Not that he would change anything, but he would be able to say he did really loudly, like he is doing now.



I got the answer in time, but I was late to school, and the principal started to scold me about ruining my chance at college… Yeah, there is no way in hell I am going to college.



The next eventful day was when I had to redirect a meteor. It was easy to stop with my current strength, and while I was thinking that was good, Omni-Man tells me he redirected one the size of Texas. I am really not sure how I would go on about doing that without using my clones, and for now, I really want to keep that part hidden. I am sure I would need them fighting Omni-Man. We decided to continue our training in space to make sure we can really go all out. It was a nice exercise, and when we were done, I saw this elephant-looking guy robbing a bank. I told Dad to go home without me, and I will take care of the elephant guy.



The next day, I was floating in the sky, and I saw a plane below me. I really wanted to race it for a while, but it would probably not be a good thing to do. What if they have some type of radar and they thought I was a rock that was about to tear the plane down? I decided to say hi from afar, but I don't think anyone noticed. Ohh--I saw a kid waving back. Today is a great day.



When I decided to go back down, there was a yellow graffiti of my name on a rooftop. Some letters were missing, but I had to reward ingenuity. The culprit turns out to be Titan--the villain who caved my face in the first time I went to fight crime. Well, this is going to be interesting.



He said he needed help with something, and that is why he 'contacted' me. I decided to help. It turns out he wanted me to take care of some criminal that controls the illegal activities of the entire city that goes by the name Machine Head i wonder if he is also a mad scientist, but I don't think they can make any type of organization, even one where they are in charge. I really had a hard time believing he was even real. There is no way in hell the government can allow one criminal to run an entire city's worth of criminal activities. That basically means this city is lost to America.



He told me he just owes money, and to pay it off, he must do whatever this guy says. The problem is, when he finished paying, the crime boss said he knows where his family lives, and he won't ever let go of him.



When I was having a hard time believing there is such an influential criminal in the city, he said I just did not know because I had it easy living in the good parts of this city--and that he wants to show me how bad it gets for the people who are poor.



He shows me that the garbage collectors work for him, and that is how he moves drugs. Are you kidding? How does one crime boss own a part of the government like it's easy? I can understand having blackmail on someone high up, but to control every garbage collector, that is just absurd. He proved it to me by showing me multiple trucks that did the exact same thing as the first, where they exchanged garbage bins. I am pretty sure they are not supposed to exchange the bins, just empty them.



He also tells me he owns an entire block with all the buildings in it. He pays off inspectors and burns buildings for insurance. This has to be some type of joke.



At one point, I saw Machine Head, and he just teleported. At least it did not have the same visual effect as Cecil, or I would have started to think this was some form of government-approved crime to stop other criminals from coming to the city.



That same night, I decided to talk to both Mom and Nolan, and their reactions were the opposite. Mom thinks I should help, and Nolan thinks I am being used. Of course, I had already decided to help. What I wanted was ideas on how--brainstorming--not whether I would do it or not. That was an easy decision to make. I am always standing with anyone who needs help, even if sometimes that happens to be a criminal.



The next day after school, I met with Titan again. He wanted to make a plan on how we could get to him. I decided to listen. He even made sure the teleporter guy was going to be distracted by a honeypot. I was thinking I would just fly really fast and pick him up, but he is right--if he realizes he is being hunted, he will go underground, and it would be hard to find him.



So I followed Titan's plan and threw him through the window. We got to his room only for this bastard to tell us he knew this was going to happen, and he has the ability to calculate quantum possibilities. Of course, there is no way he can process infinite possibilities, but still--he said he knew this was going to happen and prepared, with the teleporter coming back.



I asked Titan if he had not been distracted. He said he did, but I guess it failed. The crime boss said something about having a lot of money, and there were suddenly new villains I would have to fight.



There was an electric shooter, a lava spewer, and a dude with maybe tongues coming out of his stomach. There was also a golem-looking thing. But the most--and I mean the most--confusing part was that there was a white tiger human in front of me…



I froze for a moment. I'm sure that is Battle Beast. As in, someone Omni-Man would have trouble fighting in the future. My question is how and why in all hells does a city crime boss have the ability to hire someone who can fight one of the strongest Viltrumites out there? Who is this guy? The new king of Wakanda or some shit?



The villains really could not do much to me. The problem is still the cat. I was able to dodge him and incapacitate the others, although running from Battle Beast might not be a good idea. If I don't entertain him, he might start to destroy the building, and then more.



But lucky me--he did not decide to punch the ground or something like that. So I was able to deal with the other villains. I decided to talk to Machine Head for the first time:



"If you really could see quantum possibilities, you would have run away as fast as you could the moment you saw me."



For some reason, the teleporter was not here. Titan said he gave him some type of chip that allowed him to do the whole quantum thing. So I flew directly to him really fast and punched him in the head. Made sure not to kill him by accident. I did remove the chip and crushed it in front of him.



With all of them dealt with, the only one left is Battle Beast:



"Come down here and fight me."



"I am willing to fight you, but I think if we started a fight, it is only going to end when you get bored or dead. The problem with that is--I am a hero first and foremost, so I can't have a fight with you that will result in the casualties of hundreds if not thousands of civilians. Do you have a way to get off this planet? Then we can fight after finding some place else."



"You think you can kill me?"



"Or until you get bored."



"Or until you are dead."



"Trust me when I say this--you can't kill me. So about that transportation… do you have it?"



He made a smile that said Bring it, and a yellow square portal appeared behind him. I decided to make a clone and send it in. I told him the clone is just as tough as me and he can fight it as much as he wants. He left like a giddy child with a candy in front of him.



When I was done with all that, the only one left was Titan, and I told him I would be calling the GDA--so if he wants to leave, now is the chance. I told him I could also talk to Cecil for him, so if he wants, he can get some type of government job. But he said no and decided to leave. I gave him a few minutes, and then I called Cecil to take care of all the villains.



He wanted to know how I even knew they would be there, but I just told him I saw Machine Head and decided to fly through his window, only for him to teleport all these villains in. I don't think he fully bought it, but he allowed it.



He also asked me where the microchip was, but I told him I destroyed it. When he asked why, I said if this thing was helping him predict the future or something, I didn't want him to keep it. I didn't know Cecil would have wanted it.

 

[loudlistner]

s1ep6 {in the know}



After that, there really was nothing interesting until I got a call from Robot.



At first, I thought it was just one of the talks we regularly have about tech, even if I can only match his intellect using Invictus and nearly two decades of studying tech from an advanced civilization--which is really impressive. I mean, seriously, this guy is something else.



But this time, the call was during school time, so it had to be some type of emergency.



Turns out the new Guardians had fought something big, and it almost killed all of them. They managed to evacuate, but Robot wanted me to neutralize the enemy--only for me to find nothing.



It was weird. In the original story, I believe they had fought Battle Beast and he had hurt them, but this time they weren't there. I was actually thinking I did good, but if protecting them from that made another opponent come out and hurt them, does that mean all I'm doing is going to be pointless?



I don't get it .Where did this new thing come from, and why?



My only guess is my patron, but I don't understand why it would do that. I'm sure we're in agreement about making the world better, so why harm the new Guardians?



"I'm not sure. But I don't even know how to get in contact, let alone fight it, if for some reason it decides it wants to hurt more people."



I told Cecil and Robot I couldn't find anyone. They even came by in person, but they also couldn't find anything. Robot's scanners didn't pick up any traces of teleportation--same with the GDA satellites.



There was nothing for us to do, so we left for where the injured were.



I wanted to see if I had any tech in my head to help, but I couldn't do much. My research was mostly focused on Dimension Tech. I had no reason to look for medical applications, so the best I could do was make a type of pod that put the body in a time-slowed subdimension so nobody dies because there wasn't enough time.



At least this type of tech can be used by the rest of humanity if the GDA spreads it.



After I was done there, I went back home. The next few days were the same old, same old. It turned out the meteor I threw away wasn't the only one, so I had to go to space and throw a few more away. But there really was nothing truly new.



One day, William told me he was going on a tour to a university, so I decided to join him. It's not like I had anything interesting to do, and if I'm needed, I can just fly back really fast.



Getting Mom and Nolan to agree wasn't hard since there were no worries about girls or any other problems--but on the day we were about to leave, Mom tried her best to make it awkward.



When we were going to the university, he kept talking about this Rick guy. I gotta tell you, I'm not gay, but that guy sounds like he could charm a rock to float.



Once we arrived, William's voice kept cracking like he had just gone through puberty. The only thing missing was a video to show everyone who asked--it would have been amazing blackmail material. Oh well, nothing to it.



But if he keeps staring at that ass long enough, I will get a camera.



Somehow, telling him that seemed to wake him up real fast.



We went to the dorms for guests and put our bags down. Right after, we all visited a class about health. But that's not the interesting part.



In the class, there was this guy who out of nowhere started insulting the students, saying the best way to fix our lifespan is using engineering and not accepting that death comes to us all.



Nice point to make--the problem is he was really disrespectful. At some point, he went on about being chosen by MIT and other big universities.



Rick told him to accept. He didn't say "go the f away from here," but everyone heard it.



Mass hysteria.Maybe.



The class kept going, but I didn't find anything interesting.



After class was over, I wanted to give William some time with his crush, so I decided to tour by myself--not that William didn't take my suggestion very well and fly away with Rick real fast.



After a few hours of me enjoying the fair alone, Rick and William finished their date and came to find me--only for an explosion to interrupt everything and scare everyone.



While the crowd panicked, I quickly changed to my costume and flew back, only to see some kind of cyborg holding William by the neck, about to punch his head off.



I stopped the hit from landing and broke the other arm, just in case the cyborg decided to snap the neck of one of the few people I can call a friend.



I flew the cyborg away from civilians as fast as I could.



The thing was trying to say something--unless I was wrong and maybe it was some sort of zombie.



But I wasn't going to kill it until I was sure.



I called Cecil while making sure the cyborg didn't slip from my arm.



I told Cecil there was some sort of cyborg, and I wanted him to check if it was human or if I should destroy any others I find. There's no way someone did this to themselves, so there has got to be some mad scientist behind this.



It took a while for me to move the cyborg to wherever Cecil wanted, and of course, I had to make sure it couldn't move or harm someone else. But I finished with that and went back to the university. I thought William would either be worried I got hurt somewhere or angry I ran away. I was ready to get shouted at, but he was calm for some reason. He must have had a good time with Rick.



Once I arrived, Rick decided to go get some beer and left William and me alone. I was going to start the conversation with something dumb like, "What do you want the TV channel to be?" or something--only for William to come out of nowhere and tell me:



"You're Invictus."



How?How?How?!



How did he know? I was in front of him for barely a few seconds in costume! What the hell kind of observational skill is that?! I wanted to lie and say he was joking, but I really didn't want my only friend who isn't based on my Invictus persona to stop being my friend. So I decided to trust him and said:



"Yes. I am."



He was excited for a bit, then upset because I didn't tell him for so long. But at last, he understood--even if I had to bribe him with a flight for him to agree. Ha, joke's on him. By the time I'm done, he's going to piss his pants.



It actually took a while. I had to throw him in the air and catch him back, but he finally said he had had enough. After a few minutes of me sitting on the couch and William going to the washroom (even if he didn't actually piss himself, he came close), he got a video call from his crush--only for the video to stop in a weird place, where it looked like Rick just disappeared.



He told me to go check it out in my Invictus persona, so I did. I went to where Rick was supposed to buy the beers, and after that, I tried to follow his tracks--which, I tell you, is difficult on a concrete road. But William was able to describe the background he saw in the video call, so I was able to follow the trail. I even got Rick's phone near some kind of sewer drain.



I went in there as fast as I could without damaging the surroundings…



Only to get jumped by two more of those damn cyborgs, and they destroyed my phone. I mean, come on--have some proprietary, will you?



I frickin' knew it.



There's definitely some sort of mad scientist on the loose.



I wanted to see if the cyborgs could lead me to their base of operations, so I let them actually move me around instead of acting like some kind of indestructible rock. They punched me through a few walls--so much for my plan of avoiding property damage.



When I got up, I saw Rick strapped to some sort of metal bed, probably about to be experimented on. The problem was, the process had already started; his limbs had already been replaced. And the bitch standing in front of him? The rude student from before.



When I decided to incapacitate the cyborgs with a few punches, one of them had something in his brain come loose and just collapsed. I removed the same part from the next guy. Then the student started yelling some bullshit about me "reversing humanity's progress" or some crap. I shut him up first. When he started clawing at my hand for air, I spoke slowly.



"You are going to tell me what you did to Rick, and if you can fix it. If the answer you give me is that it's impossible to fix… I will break your jaw. Is that understood?"



I was speaking slowly--on purpose. The oxygen shortage would start messing with his head. But I've learned something: when someone's life is at stake, they get very attentive. They look for a way out. And my words promised exactly that--air. So he listened.



When I finally let him breathe, he gasped out,



"The process doesn't start with the brain! He's safe! Please don't kill me!"



"That's a good answer," I said. "I won't kill you… But you did cut off a lot of his other body parts. There's going to have to be some kind of punishment."



He pissed himself.



These kinds of people are always the same--always a dime a dozen. They dream of "fixing the world" like it's broken. And when you ask how, it always starts with someone getting hurt first. Always with some twisted version of "the greater good." Always cowardly.



I broke his arms and legs.



But I didn't touch his jaw.



After all, that was only if he told me Rick wasn't going to survive.



Cecil showed up after I told William to call him since my phone was destroyed, with a group of medical personnel to escort the now-crippled mad scientist away. He told me his analysts had been studying the other cyborg, and apparently, the enhancements were actually… impressive. Massive strength boosts.High durability.



I know Cecil. He's going to use that tech.



"Alright, Cecil, I understand you will need to use this tech; there is simply no possibility you would be allowed to pass on it. Even if you try, you'd most likely be replaced or overruled. So I want you to promise me one thing."



"Yeah, you are probably right. Even if they couldn't damage you, we could probably use them for other things. So what is that promise you want?"



"When you use this tech, it will have to be on already dead people who accepted the procedures before dying. Incentivize them, tell them you will take care of their family or something. But make it consensual. And if, for some reason, this tech can only be used on someone alive, then use it on a death row inmate, the ones scheduled to be executed in like a few days. Please, promise. Even if it is a little bit harder, it is worth keeping whatever humanity you have left."



"Well, thanks for the insult, but yeah, I will make sure it is consensual."



I made him look me in the eye when he promised.



And I think--for just a moment--he understood that I'm really over fifty years old.



Even if I don't have enough social experience to act like it.

 

[Thiccc Shaedy]

The lack of replies in this thread is irritating my soul. Like... even a simply 'thanks for the chapter' woulda been nice.

Anyway, thanks for the chapter. Glad he managed to save Rick.

 

[Billbo baggins]

The lack of replies in this thread is irritating my soul. Like... even a simply 'thanks for the chapter' woulda been nice.

Anyway, thanks for the chapter. Glad he managed to save Rick.

Click to shrink...

I mean I haven't read this yet but uh if it's just invincible with a few scenes changed why would anyone care to?

 

[Thiccc Shaedy]

I mean I haven't read this yet but uh if it's just invincible with a few scenes changed why would anyone care to?

Click to shrink...

Just to be nice or whatever.