Sockmonkey
I trust you know where the happy button is?
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Does this version of OL know how to brand or assimilate?
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7th May 2024
No one knows about assimilation. When I realised how dodgy-looking the Global Defence Agency was, I abandoned any plan I had to be a superhero and just kept my head down as much as possible. Constructs, matter transmutation and flight, yes, records of those exist, but the other things… No one has seen them. The records don't exist. And viltrumites aren't telepathic. He shouldn't be able to know.
So according to the first set of Invincible snips, OL kept the idea of assimilation a secret. But one of the more recent clips seems to be that he has let Invincible know that he can brand people."And then Amber got in my face about trying to rescue my best friend instead of spending time with her-." He comes upright. "Okay, that's it. I don't need anything from Angstrom except a way back. Lantern, your mind control thing will work on him, right?"
I don't believe that Batman had a clown waifu in that story, but it has been a while. If you're referring to the killing that got him sent to Belle Reve, no, it was the Joker hinself.
I'm not exactly sure that I'd equate 'brain damage' with 'character development'.Welp there goes Rex's character development but at least he's alive.
That is a downright bizarre choice for a HQ. Any trouble and that entire bridge gets damaged or destroyed by falling debris. Never mind the tourists who probably lurk around the shore or predestrian walkways hoping to catch a photo of a superhero coming or going. Because you know there would be.6th March 2025
10:01 GMT -5
A.. suspension bridge with a.. weirdly large building on top of one of the towers. I-.
No need to be subtle right now. If Angstrom is watching, his attention would be on the Invincible, not the outside.Eve jerks away from me, a weak pink bolt hitting me in the chest and being absorbed by my environmental shield. Then she works out where we are and dives for the structurally-unsound structure. She's going for the entry hatch at the top, a waste of time. I generate a construct drill and slam it into the exterior wall, brick exploding away and flying into the water below! A construct fan blows away the brick dust as my scans feed the interior layout into my brain. I-.
'Robot', of course. Fighting with multiple bodies, no matter how awkward it might be to direct them.I dodge as a chunk of.. dull brown robot flies past me before armouring up and heading in. Some sort of… Workshop, though I can see a larger interior space through a hole in one of the walls.
"You called in reinforcements?"
And Monster Girl and i presume Rex Splode.That's Invincible's voice. He's holding another robot up by the neck. No, this one is power armour, and from the look of the control system the boy inside is-. Was controlling the other robots littering the floor. There's a injured girl on the ground in a pile of rubble, and… Someone in some sort of orange fire fighter uniform? I connect filaments to both of them and move them to…
I hope the interior had inertial dampening of some kind, or Robot's clone body is gonna be hurting."Hey, if you keep calling people in, do you think I could kill more of you than any the others? Just take a number, I'll get to-" He glances around. "-you-. Oh. Gay Invincible's boyfriend. What do you-"
Eve blasts past me, sword at the ready. Invincible grins, spinning around twice and throwing the power armour at her. Her eyes widen as she tries to viff out of the way but I just generate a crash mat construct to absorb its momentum. The construct fails on impact, but I soaked enough kinetic energy that it just falls to the ground.
Nice style. Being on fire makes it harder for him to think to grab you, since even Viltrumites probably have some of those instincts about fire hurting. And if not, his human half would."-want-? Hey, what-"
Eve spins around my dissipating construct and blasts herself at him, pink armour around her body shielding her from the transmuted rocket fuel she just ignited on her back. This Invincible smiles as he half-dodges, right arm stuck out to turn aside her swing.
Wasting no time disrupting him, I see. So much for keeping a low profile, though.I form a megaphone construct and project the anti-Viltrumite sound wave.
"-givesaagh!"
At least his goggles do something.Eve swings, and his forearm parts company with his body! A second rushed swing as she flies past him slices through part of his neck, though she misses the major arteries and the windpipe. He tries to reach for it with both hands, only for the stump to spurt so much blood over his face that he can't tell how serious the wound is.
Guess what, buddy? You're not the big dog here anymore. Though I suspect he's not gonna be thinking very straight, between the pain, the increasing blood loss and...Eve hits the far wall with force, her armour fracturing as it prevents her being injured.
"What the Hell?"
...Some ringing ears. oh, and a new hole in his face thanks to that.The Invincible then tries moving his hands to his ears to block out the sound I'm making, only to jab himself with his exposed radius bone.
"Ah-gh!"
Yeah, given there's a densely populated city right outside, I think weapons of mass destruction are right out.The guy in power armour rises to his feet, checking me out for a moment before turning back to keep careful watch on the Invincible. "I have expended all useful ordnance. If you have a weapon capable of hurting an Invincible duplicate, do not hesitate to use it."
"I've got antimatter."
"I withdraw my previous statement."
Good, she's learning not to just go straight in. At least, not without proper protection.Eve goes to lunge at where the Invincible is flailing on the ground, but meets my eyes before she does so. She hesitates, recreates her armour and then lunges at him, sword raises high and then slashing down-
"AAAGhda-hah!"
There's that weird interaction again. It must be because of this 'smart molecule' stuff Lantern theorised about.-and getting embedded in his chest due to being stuck in his ribs. He tries to push it out with his remaining hand, only for the x-ionised metal to survive, get more jammed against the inside of his rib cage, and slice cleanly through the hand he just hit it with because arming swords are sharp on both sides.
You'd be amazed how much damage certain parts of the brain can suffer and still function with... Humans are bizarrely tough in some ways, yet fragile in others."Uu-uhruh!"
I dart forwards, take an x-ionised epée out of subspace and stab it through his left eye socket and into his brain. He's… Shaking as the signals from his brain to his body are getting disrupted, but he doesn't appear to actually be dying.
Okay, now he's dead. And even if he somehow gets up, he's been thoroughly disarmed.Eve comes up besides me, reclaims her sword and plunges it through his neck.
Blood spurts from his severed carotid arteries, his shakes growing steadily less vigorous before he finally goes still.
Ah, yes, the spy-eye. Might not want it uploading footage of you.Breathing heavily, Eve withdraws her sword and disintegrates the blood covering her in a wave of pink light. Scan…
There!
Probably shitty intrusion counter-measures because they didn't expect to need them.I transition outside and then upwards as the red fireman groggily rises to his feet while one of Angstrom's drones watches from above. I send a construct cable down, punching through the outer casing and looking for…
Connection established.
Some of his friends would probably joke there's not much difference between regular Rex and concussed Rex.Good. Take control, and edit myself from the footage. Not… Seeing any internal component checking, so… Build a Viltrumite Empire standard uplink to maintain control without a connection and transition back down.
"Ah." The fireman is clearly unsteady on his feet, possibly from loss of blood and possibly from head trauma. "Heey. Are you new? There's a… Guy."
If I understand the timeline right, said brain injury is from fighting a Lizard-themed army? And he defeated their leader while missing a hand and suffering said bullet-wound. Guy's tough."The version of Invincible who attacked you is dead." I scan him. Hm. Nothing… Immediately fatal, though it.. looks like he received a traumatic brain injury relatively recently. Probably from a bullet? Given the lack of residual fragments I'd guess that it was an armour piercing round that over penetrated, but it's still impressive that he's in anything like fighting shape. "Would you-?"
This was before she got her special belt, right? Wonder if the Ring could do something similar, re-aging her to something closer to her true age...He looks around in a daze, finally spotting the unconscious girl.
"Monster Girl?!" He darts over to her and starts performing a basic health assessment.
...What, you expected him to try to kill you? Oh, right..."I can heal both of you, if you like."
"Uh. Huh?" He stares at me. "That was an option?"
Let's go with that.
Interesting. Wonder if that'll cause another personality shift?I connect a broad orange beam to him and get to work. Cuts and bruises, gone. Brain damage… Well, I can't tell exactly what was there before, but I can reconnect some of the blood vessels and I can work out some of what's missing based on my scans of other human brains. I also know what infant brains look like, so if I just make it highly plastic then he should be alright. His cybernetic forearm…
...Because of course Cecil wanted a lethal backup option.Huh.
That's a monitoring device and a remote self-destruct.
I shut them both down and remove the prosthetic.
Yeah, I don't think he'll mind that one."Hey-! I need that!"
And I replace his forearm with a mirror of his remaining hand.
Ah, his Ring didn't pick up the magic-based reverse-aging, then."Or… Not. Was Cecil keeping you in a basement or something?"
And… 'Monster Girl'… Brain swelling down, small cuts and bruises… Nothing serious. Anything else can wait for an actual physician.
'Power Armour Kid' is the guy you want, Lantern."No, I came in as part of the invasion force."
"Ah…"
"But my Invincible isn't actually interested in destroying your civilisation." I think, and the spy drone floats down. "Are any of you any good with technology?"
I hope Matthew reveals this to Rex at least.That's a monitoring device and a remote self-destruct.
I shut them both down and remove the prosthetic.