[Mark Grayson P.O.V.]
My lungs were burning, hacking up the metallic stench of ozone and zombie rot, and every single muscle in my body screamed in agony as a glowing green portal ripped open in thin air.
CRASH! SNAP!
I was violently spat out, crashing face-first into a tree.
Now, being a half-Viltrumite meant I could normally puncture through trees, buildings, and even mountains. But after being thrown around the multiverse like a bloody chew toy… getting beaten to a pulp by talking dinosaurs, zombies, Omni-potus, and God knows what else?
Yeah, even crashing into a simple oak trunk hurt like hell. I stopped dead in my tracks, hopelessly tangled within the branches.
I heard muffled sounds, but when I focused, I heard a feminine voice screeching.
"MOTHERFUCKER!!!"
"..." I swallowed the metallic taste of blood and winced.
'What did I ruin now?'
I forced my heavy head down, peering through the leaves. I saw two people in the garden below, and the girl with heavy bangs was the one cursing me out.
Before I could even speak, the branch underneath my ribs gave way with a loud snap.
THUD!
I plummeted, face-planting hard into the dirt.
"Ugh…" I groaned, trying to push myself up on shaking arms. My lenses were cracked, and blood was covering my vision in a blurry mess.
When the girl saw me, her hair actually lifted up from her sudden movement. I saw her single eye glaring at me, creeping me out so badly that I scrambled backward till my spine slammed against the tree trunk.
My breath hitched.
Was this a universe where everyone only had one eye? I just came from a dimension where people had four arms, so anything was possible.
"It's the spawn of Nolan again!" She yelled, her voice shaking with pure venom.
When the young man behind her stepped up to calm her down, she shrieked.
"Diamond Draw!"
"Wha—" Her sudden shout surprised the boy so much he physically jumped.
Ding! Ding! Ding!
I swear to God, I heard the sound of a casino slot machine spinning.
Before I could even blink, there was a blinding flash of light and a shotgun appeared in the woman's hands.
An unremarkable double-barreled shotgun, except its barrels were glowing gold from the inside, radiating a terrifying wave of heat directly at my face.
"Nakime, calm down!" The man pleaded as the girl levelled the glowing barrels right at my face.
"No, John! I didn't get to say I love… I ruined the moment… It is all because of this demon's spawn!"
She clicked the trigger.
I squeezed my eyes shut, bracing for a hole in my face.
BOOM!
Suddenly, a metallic blur of red and blue erupted out of nowhere, knocking the barrel upward just as she fired.
A deafening boom shook the park as the golden buckshot blasted straight into the sky and exploded, lighting up the clouds like a second sun.
'This chick's completely insane!'
I dug my fingers into the grass, desperately trying to drag my broken body up. I need to get back to Mom and Oli before Angstrom...
But my thoughts were cut short as an old man in a pristine butler's suit suddenly materialized directly in front of me out of thin air.
[Image Here]
He kneeled down, boring his golden eyes directly into my soul, and calmly stood back up.
"Lady Nakime, you must calm down. This is not the native Invincible of this world." The old man says smoothly.
"Are you sure, Sebas?" The young man asks, looking surprised.
"Yes, Master. I would be a rather poor teacher if I could not identify my own student." He then turns to look at me. "He may possess the same physical vessel, but his aura is completely off and remarkably untrained."
"..." Weak? Poorly developed? I wanted to yell at him, to tell him I just fought Anissa of Viltrum just a few days ago, but I coughed up a glob of blood instead.
"So you mean to say this Mark is from somewhere else in the multiverse?" The boy asks, pushing his glasses up his nose.
"Exactly, Master."
The blur in my vision finally cleared, revealing a man in a bizarre red, silver, and blue metallic suit.
"Pepsi?" He asks, tilting his featureless head.
A puddle of green sludge resting on his shoulder chimes in. "Ship!"
"..." I just stared at them, dumbfounded.
A one-eyed goth girl with a magic shotgun. A butler. A Pepsi mascot? And a talking pile of goo.
My brain was finally shutting down.
The homicidal rage instantly melted off the woman's face. She lowered the shotgun, her demeanor snapping into a jarringly sweet submissiveness as she buried her face into the boy's chest. "I am sorry, Master. I let my anger take over me… I just wanted to..."
"Shh, it's okay, Nakime~" He says gently, wrapping his arms around her and kissing the top of her head. "I knew you loved me even before you tried to say it."
"..." I let out a heavy, rattling cough, spitting blood into the grass. "Umm, am I intruding on something?" I wheeze mid-cough.
The one-eyed woman immediately shoots a lethal glare my way again, making me shut my mouth instantly.
"Alright, Mark." The young man turns his attention back to me, and his tone shifts much more serious. "Tell me, what kind of Invincible are you?"
It finally dawned on me that I was in a world completely unlike my own. All these unfamiliar heroes (I hope) were staring at me, and I swallowed hard, the fear creeping back up my throat.
I started telling them about myself. I explained how I was the son of Earth's greatest hero, and how my father turned out to be the greatest betrayer of humanity—
"We are not here to listen to your entire life story! Make it quick!" Nakime snaps, raising the barrel of her glowing shotgun just a fraction to make her point.
"Okay, okay!" I put my hands up defensively, gulping in fear of the super gun still aimed at my chest.
Before I can speak, the silver and blue mascot guy suddenly steps right into my personal space.
"Pepsi!" He declares cheerfully.
He holds out a perfectly chilled, sweating can of soda right to my bloody face.
"..." I blinked, staring blankly at the can. Then I look up at his featureless silver face. "Are you serious right now? I have three broken ribs and a concussion! What is a soda going to do?!"
"Pepsi." He nods sagely, pushing the can closer.
"Ship!" The green sludge on the boy's shoulder adds, extending a tiny, gooey thumbs-up.
"I believe Sir Pepsi is implying that hydration is the first step to a steady recovery," the old butler, Sebas, chimes in calmly, delicately dusting a speck of dirt off his immaculate sleeve. "Though I would personally recommend a proper cup of Earl Grey."
"I don't want a Pepsi or tea!" I yell, pushing the silver hand away. I turn back to the boy with glasses, desperate to make them understand. " Look, there's this guy… Angstrom Levy," I wheeze, clutching my ribs. "He has the power to open portals to other dimensions. He blames me for an accident that deformed his brain… and for all the evil versions of me he saw in other universes."
I look down at the grass, the panic and helplessness bubbling back up into my throat.
"I got a call from my mom's phone. But it was him. He's in my house right now holding my mom and my baby brother hostage. Please, they're completely defenceless!"
I clench my fists, digging my fingers into the dirt.
"Every time I try to rush him, every time I try to save them, he just opens another portal right beneath my feet!" I shout, my voice cracking with desperation. "He's been throwing me into random universes just to wear me down! I've been dropped into a canyon with talking dinosaurs, a wasteland full of zombies, and some weird city with guys dressed like actual Power Rangers! I feel like I'm losing my goddamn mind! He just keeps tossing me around like a ragdoll!"
I look up at the boy, pleading.
"He threatened to kill my mom and my brother if I didn't play his sick game. I … I'm powerless against his portals. I just need to get back to my universe. If I don't get back he's going to…" I couldn't finish the sentence.
"..." The young man just stares back in silence, adjusting his glasses.
"Wait a minute." The boy they all call Master holds up a hand, stopping me mid-sentence. "Did you say your baby brother? As in, Oliver?"
"Yes! He is just a toddler!" I plead.
His eyes instantly light up. I could practically see a mischievous smile creeping onto his face, completely contrasting the terrifying situation.
"Angstrom Levy, huh?" The boy chuckles, rubbing his chin. "Well, it sounds to me like Mr. Levy is playing a very dangerous game of dimensional roulette. And he just happened to land on the wrong number."
"What are you talking about?" I ask, completely lost. "Can you help me get back or not?!"
"Alright!" He claps his hands together cheerfully. "How about we show our guest some proper hospitality and take him to the Castle?"
"Master…" That Nakime girl starts, her tone filled with questioning caution, but the boy just shakes his head.
He leans in, whispering something in her ear to calm her down. The tension in her shoulders melts away as the shotgun in her hands vanishes into thin air, replaced by a wooden stringed instrument.
"Indeed," Sebas smiles, bowing slightly toward me. "The Castle is outside the boundaries of conventional space and time. A most fitting place to formulate a counter-offensive."
"Ship, ship!" The green blob happily chirps, morphing into a tiny cannon for a split second before turning back into sludge.
"Are you guys insane?!" I yell, trying to scramble backward on the grass. "I don't want a castle! I want my mom!"
Nakime just rolls her single eye in annoyance. She raises a wooden instrument and strikes the strings.
TWANG!
The solid dirt beneath me instantly morphs into a set of traditional wooden sliding gates, pulling open and dropping me into an endless, shifting darkness.
But it wasn't just dark. As I fell, I caught a fleeting glimpse of impossible geometry below—endless wooden platforms, upside-down staircases, and a sickening shift in gravity that completely defied physics.
"AHH!" I plummet into the void, the unnatural atmosphere suffocating the last of my strength as it finally gave out.
'Mom, Oli, Eve… I am so sorry.' I closed my eyes in defeat.
I was officially being kidnapped by a bunch of monsters, and I had failed my family.
[A/N]:
If you want to read up to 10+ Chapters in advance, check out my P@treon - Max_Striker.
If you wanna hang out, join my Discord server- https://discord.gg/XxGEYk2PM5