"Are you finished with what you need to do here?" Angstrom asked, deactivating his space helmet as we stepped back into the sterile, sprawling biomechanical lab.
"For now," I replied, stretching the tension out of my shoulders. "There are still a lot more abilities to uncover and refine, but I need to head back to Earth. I have to make sure people know I'm alive, and there are a few looming headaches I need to be present for."
Like Dinosaurus, I thought internally, and Robot's inevitable snooping. If I stay off-grid too long, Cecil's paranoia's gonna cause unnecessary problems. And since things in the timeline have sped up, there's a chance Allen and Nolan come to Earth sooner than expected.
One of the Mauler Twins walked up, eyeing my tattered, ruined suit. The fabric was practically shredded to ribbons from the extreme varying elements of the twelve planets.
"We're building you a new suit," he stated flatly, data pad in hand. "That rag isn't fit for future operations. Especially with your containment suit totaled."
"I like the sound of that," I nodded. "It should be something as adaptable as me. So, take your time with it. For now, I'll have to keep this one on for the public eye."
Angstrom nodded. "Alright, then we should probably get you out of those rags and—"
"No, that's okay," I said, cutting him off.
He raised an eyebrow, looking at the tattered suit.
"From Earth's perspective, specifically the GDA, I'll have been out in deep space for days on end, hunting down six powerful clones," I explained. "So, I'll need to look the part. If I show up looking too fresh and clean, Cecil's gonna know something's up."
Angstrom nodded in understanding and pointed me toward a decontamination wing so I could hit the showers.
I stood under the scalding water for a long time, washing away three years of alien dirt and dried blood. I looked in the mirror, taking in the noticeable changes. I took a razor and shaved the ragged, wild beard I had grown over the last three years, trimming it back down to my sharp, clean, standard look. Then, I shortened the hair to an appropriate length.
Once I was clean, I deliberately slipped the smelly, ruined suit back on.
"Drop me off near the edge of the solar system if you could," I told Angstrom as I stepped back into the lab. "I can't just magically appear on Earth while the GDA is heavily monitoring the skies. They'll need to track my trajectory coming in so they buy the narrative."
"Understood," Angstrom said, dialing in the coordinates, and a green portal tore open. I stepped through, leaving the biomechanical lab behind, and launched myself toward Earth.
My reentry into Earth's atmosphere was a blazing streak of fire. I didn't bother slowing down until I was directly over the city, dropping from the sky and landing heavily on the roof of Invincible Inc. headquarters.
I walked straight into the main boardroom.
Waiting around the massive table were Titan, Isotope, Eve, Oliver, and my logistics director. The moment the doors slid open, all conversation died. They took in my battered, ragged appearance. I could see the immediate relief wash over Eve and Oliver's faces.
"It's done," I announced, my voice steady but purposefully strained. "The clones are permanently dealt with."
"Thank God," Eve breathed out, slumping back in her chair.
Before anyone could ask for details, my logistics director tapped her earpiece. "Sir, we have an incoming transmission from the GDA."
"Patch it through," I said, leaning heavily against the edge of the table to really sell the exhaustion.
A holographic projection of Cecil flickered to life in the center of the room. His eyes instantly zeroed in on my distressed state.
"You look like hell, kid," Cecil noted gruffly. "Are they taken care of?"
"Every last one of them," I replied, actively faking a breathless, weary rasp in my voice. "Finding them all quickly wasn't easy, but Earth is secure, for now."
Cecil let out a slow exhale. "Good work. Now... what's our timeline on Nolan? When should we expect his arrival?"
"I'm not sure," I responded honestly. "It could be days, weeks, or months. I don't exactly have a way to communicate with him, let alone know where he's at in the galaxy. We'll just have to continue to prepare and wait."
"Understood," Cecil said, his expression hardening. "Then you better get some rest. You're going to need it."
The transmission cut out.
Hook, line, and sinker, I mused internally, standing up straight, the fake exhaustion vanishing instantly. All that's left to do now is to play the waiting game.
And what a wait it was. Over the next few months, the villains of Earth threw their usual tantrums, and I treated them like I was checking off a mundane to-do list.
One of these situations involved the infamous Dinosaurus. He had set a highly convoluted, city-threatening explosive trap specifically designed to test my reaction time, speed, and overall capabilities.
When I finally confronted him amidst the ticking bombs, he was mid-monologue.
"Humanity is a parasite, Invincible!" he roared, his massive reptilian jaws snapping. "Your continued protection of them is what's killing this planet! Don't you see that the worldwide devastation from your clones was the best thing to happen to this planet! You fight for a broken status quo! The destruction of densely populated city centers would have led to a substantial decrease in carbon emissions leading to—"
"Yea, yea, save it for your eco group," I said, checking the time on my wrist communicator. "Can we just get to the part where I beat you down now?"
Before he could react, I crossed the distance and delivered a palm strike that sent him flying. He subsequently crashed into an evacuated building, turning it into rubble. While he was down, I quickly found and dismantled his bombs—which my team had already pinpointed and walked me through dismantling—with relative ease. I didn't even have to utilize my new abilities, ensuring that any GDA drones watching wouldn't gather a single ounce of data on them.
When Dinosaurus stepped out from the rubble, his reptilian form had been replaced with a human figure. The human—a man named David Anders—explained his conundrum and how he was a scientist who had essentially gained a split personality that twisted his desire to help the Earth into an extreme need to help it.
It's quite similar to the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde story, I thought. But instead of a hulking monster man, he turns into a fucking super intelligent lizard.
Knowing his intellect was dangerously ambitious but incredibly useful, I didn't let the GDA get a hold of him. Instead, I locked him up in a highly secure, subterranean cell at Invincible Inc. I had the suite filled with top-of-the-line entertainment, video games, and luxuries to keep him completely pacified; knowing that boredom was the root trigger of his transformation. While locked up, my R&D department discreetly ran tests on his unique biology.
Then came an encounter with Powerplex.
A couple of days after my return to Earth, I was informed that his wife, Jessica, was medically cleared to regain guardianship of their son, Jack. Powerplex himself had gone missing after escaping prison during the Invincible war. I had my team keep tabs on him until they discovered that he'd been recruited by Cecil into a government-sponsored superhero team called the Auctioneers. I brushed the information off since it really didn't mean much to me, until Powerplex himself confronted me after I stopped some random villains from robbing a convenience store.
He stared me down, not saying a single word to me. Electrical energy began to crackle around him as he clenched his fists. Then, I raised my fist in response, essentially asking if he wanted to fight. He continued to say nothing until the energy dimmed and he finally spoke.
"You had my son," he said, not taking his eyes off me. "You took care of him, and you even had my wife checked into a medical center."
I nodded in response.
"Why?" he asked quietly, his arms slowly dropping to his sides.
"Because even with the actions you've taken, I don't believe your family should be destroyed," I responded. "Your choices are your own, but I'd rather not have a child orphaned because of an ill-advised one."
The furious, burning vendetta in his eyes died down, replaced by profound confusion and guilt. He expected a monster, and instead, he found a benefactor.
Our remaining conversation ended on an unusual note. It wasn't out of forgiveness or empathy, but a pragmatic understanding of our current situation.
Some time after, Universa arrived.
She came crashing into the atmosphere, looking to aggressively siphon the planet's energy to save her dying world. When I confronted her, she fired city-leveling energy blasts at me. They did absolutely no damage, which shocked her greatly. I blitzed her immediately, effortlessly disarming her of her energy staff and pinning her to the ground before she could even register my speed.
"Do it!" she spat, glaring up at me defiantly. "Kill me! My world dies either way!"
"I'm not going to kill you," I said, stepping off her and tossing a heavy, metallic device at her feet.
She looked at it, confused. "What is this?"
"A specialized solar-siphon," I explained, watching her carefully. "I had my lead scientists model it entirely after my own biology. It will passively absorb and store solar radiation indefinitely. It's more than enough to power your planet."
Universa stared at the device, then up at me, completely stunned. "You... you're just giving this to me? Why?" she asked, glaring, clearly thinking it might have been a trap.
"Consider it an investment," I told her. "There's a massive war coming to this sector of the galaxy against the Viltrumites, and I want you to keep your ears open to the Coalition of Planets' communication channels."
"A war against Viltrumites?" she questioned, confusion on her face.
Oh, her planet must be incredibly far away if she doesn't know who the Viltrumites are, I thought. The cosmos must stretch farther than I realized.
"That's right, and not the kind that'll be good for anyone if the other side wins," I said, offering her a hand. "So, keep your people safe and don't get caught in the crossfire if it happens to spill over in your sector."
She picked up the device and inspected it before ultimately taking my hand.
"Thank you," she said, her expression shifting from hostility to absolute reverence. "You have saved me and my people. And for that I am forever in your debt."
"Don't worry about it," I replied. "Just keep your eyes open for any hostiles."
"I hope to one day repay your kindness," she said as she left Earth not as an enemy, but as a staunch, indebted ally.
Everything else from that moment on was pretty uneventful, except for one true annoyance that raised its head back up: The Order.
Titan brought it to my attention that Machine Head, back in power, had attempted to assassinate his family while they were out.
That was when Titan, Isotope, and I casually teleported directly into The Order's boardroom mid-meeting. Machine Head sat at the head of the table with other villains filling the seats.
"You've got some nerve stepping into my domain, Invincible," Machine Head's digitized voice buzzed with arrogant confidence. "You don't run this city. You don't—"
CRACK.
I tapped my index finger against the desk, sending a micro-kinetic shockwave that instantly shattered every single pane of glass in the room. A localized tremor shook the foundation of the entire room, freezing the villains, and their expressions in place.
"Listen carefully because I will not be repeating myself," I began softly. "I do not care what you all do. And I don't care about your little organization. Frankly, I think your dedication to maximizing your profits are admirable."
I moved quickly behind Machine Head before anyone could register my movement.
"However, If any of your members ever even look in the direction of Invincible Inc.'s personnel or their families again… then I'll personally end every single last one of you."
I leaned over Machine Head's shoulder. I could hear his circuits speeding up.
"And I'll do it before you can even blink," I said, voice dropping an octave. Then, I moved back to my position with Titan and Isotope. "Y'all understand, don'tcha?"
Every villain nodded, receiving the message. "Good," I said as Isotope teleported us out.
Between managing the company and playing diplomat, I spent the other part of my time back on the twelve planets, secretly fine-tuning my ultimate trump card: Overdrive Mode.
By intentionally overriding the Dyson-Sphere Nanites that contained my excess radiation, I distributed my massive, stockpiled solar energy throughout my entire body, forcing my atoms to burn as hot as a miniature sun. The sheer output caused my strength, speed, and durability to skyrocket to god-like levels for a set duration.
However, the drawback was severe—it rapidly depleted my solar reserves, threatening to leave me completely powerless or even comatose if I stayed in it too long. But against a monster like Thragg, it was the exact high-risk, high-reward weapon I needed.
This was especially true after testing it out on a Conquest variant some time ago. I knew I didn't need the mode to defeat him—my strength had surged way past the point of him being a threat to me—but he was one of the best opponents to test it out on. I ended up incinerating the outer layer of his body with a flurry of quick strikes that broke right through his durability. After the battle, my body felt extremely exhausted, like I'd been fighting five battles simultaneously. From then on, I trained the mode in increments, taking the output up a notch only after getting used to the lingering aftereffects. Right now, I can use it for ten minutes straight before my limbs start feeling like Play-Doh.
And all I needed now was a suit that could handle the heat.
"It is complete," one of the Maulers announced, stepping back from a sleek fabrication pod.
I stood in the biomechanical lab, staring at my new suit. It was a masterpiece of refined micromechanical technology. Instead of standard woven armor, the suit was made entirely of auto-repairing nanites that synced perfectly with my biology and the Dyson-Sphere lattice inside me.
The main activation and storage hubs were located in the heavy waist belt and the new armored wristbands, which extended from my wrists halfway up my forearms. The base of the suit was a deep, abyssal black, while the thick boots, belt, and wristbands were a striking Golden Poppy Yellow.
I stepped into the pod. The nanites crawled over my skin, sealing seamlessly. I flexed my hands, feeling the perfect, weightless fit. As I deliberately tapped into my solar reserves, building up energy, the Golden Poppy Yellow 'I' insignia on my chest began to glow a brilliant, blinding Smoke White.
But the most impressive feature was the look of the suit itself. The microscopic, ever-moving nanites constantly adjusted to any kinetic input I received as well as my own kinetic output, making the dark fabric shift constantly. It looked like I was wearing space itself—a deep void filled with millions of faintly shifting stars.
Ooooooo, I thought, admiring the reflection. It looks a bit like Black Adam's suit mixed with Superman's black suit, but the cosmic aesthetic is what puts it all together. I look like I know I'm better than everyone else. It's like that old saying goes: look good, feel good, perform good.
Suddenly, a sharp, urgent ping echoed from a specialized device on my belt.
It was the emergency beacon I had given Oliver. A button he was only supposed to press if he needed me immediately.
My eyes narrowed, and I called upon Angstrom to open a portal for me, allowing me to break the sound barrier instantly the moment I stepped through as I tracked his coordinates.
As I flew, my golden wristbands gleamed in the afternoon sun, while my chest insignia glowed white as I prepared for whatever threat had cornered him. I arrived at a secluded, unfinished Invincible Inc. warehouse near the coastline just seconds later.
Oliver, now looking fourteen years old, was hovering in the air. He wasn't distressed or anything; in fact, he actually looked perfectly fine.
Floating a few feet away from him was the hulking, familiar orange frame of Allen the Alien. And standing right beside Allen, wearing a shoeless Coalition of Planets uniform, was Nolan.
Ah, so it's time, I mused internally, flying towards them. The Viltrumite War is about to begin.