[Angstrom Levy P.O.V.]
BZZZZT!
The swirling green portal closes behind me with a sharp snap, and my boots hit the concrete of this new dimension.
"Where is he?"
I aggressively rub my oversized, pulsating brain, feeling a massive migraine flaring up. I threw that little Viltrumite shit into this universe not even five minutes ago! He should be here, getting his teeth kicked in by whatever native horrors live in this dimension. I specifically picked a coordinate that felt… heavy? Dangerous! A place completely outside the normal flow of the multiverse.
But my connection to his location?
Gone.
Like someone had reached out and snipped the cord.
"How is that even possible?" I mutter to myself, my teeth grinding together. "Nobody escapes my portals. Nobody!"
I groan as the voices flare up again.
'Agh! They never stop!'
A thousand lifetimes, a thousand overlapping echoes of burning cities, screaming families, and the sickening, wet crack of Viltrumite fists tearing through bone. It is a constant cacophony of grief inside my skull, a mumble-jumble of superimposed tragedies all screaming the same truth: Invincible is a plague.
I open a portal to change my location and deposit on the top of a skyscraper, to get a bird's-eye view of the carnage.
I expect to see the usual multiversal constants. A destroyed, burning Chicago, subjugated Earth and Mark Grayson standing over a mountain of innocent corpses, his hands stained with blood.
Instead…
"What the…" I literally rubbed my eyes and looked again.
Giant, twisted trees glowing with ripe fruit growing right out of the sidewalks. Skyscrapers covered in lush, green grass and hanging gardens. The air doesn't smell like ash, blood, and ozone; it smells like… fresh rain and blooming flowers.
This is Chicago?
"..."
This is wrong. This is completely wrong.
Did I just jump into a dimensional propaganda?
BOOM!
A massive explosion echoes from a few blocks away as smoke billows into the pristine sky.
"Ah! There it is!" I smile, a dark surge of vindication washing over me. "The facade crumbles. Now we see the true colors of this world."
I port closer, concealing myself behind a billboard, ready to witness the familiar, comforting sight of Invincible ripping civilians in half or casually throwing a school bus at a villain.
But as I look down at the chaotic intersection, my jaw drops.
A rogue supervillain, some hulking idiot in an elephant costume, is tearing up the street.
In literally any other universe, this is where Mark Grayson swoops in, punches the villain so hard the shockwave levels a city block, and casually ignores the hundreds of people crushed under the collateral damage.
Swoosh!
A blur of yellow and blue streaks out of the sky. Invincible!
"Do it," I whisper, my enlarged brain throbbing with anticipation. "Show your true nature. Show them what you are!"
But Invincible doesn't throw a punch. Instead, he catches a falling radio tower that the villain knocked over. He strains, holding the massive steel structure above a crowded intersection, his muscles bulging.
"Get them out!" Invincible shouts down to the street. "I've got the tower! Prioritize the civilians!"
"..." He is… protecting them?
And he isn't alone.
A red blur zips through the panicked crowd. It's Red Rush! He is moving at Mach 3, gently scooping up tripped civilians and moving them behind police barricades.
'He's still alive?'
Then, another hero drops in—a woman in a pink suit and cape. Atom Eve? She uses her pink constructs to send the tower back in its position and fix it.
Not a single unnecessary casualty. This is not the norm. The heroes aren't brawling with reckless abandon. Not even a useless one-liner.
With their teamwork, the villain is quickly subdued while the civilians are safe.
"..."
My hands start to shake.
The voices in my head suddenly stumble. The overlapping chorus of multiversal grief stutters, trips over itself, and devolves into a confused, static buzz. The memories of a thousand burning Earths are violently clashing with the sight of a Viltrumite waving at a cheering crowd.
My synapses are literally misfiring.
'This universe is broken. It's Defective!'
In every single universe where Nolan's true intentions are revealed, Mark joins him, or the world is reduced to ash trying to fight him! It is an absolute constant! If Invincible isn't a murderous psychopath here… if the heroes are actually heroic and competent… then what happened?!
I need answers. And who better to ask than… myself?
***
Finding myself is always easy. Across a thousand lifetimes, we are creatures of habit.
Brilliant, misunderstood, and always seeking the truth. Even without a brain the size of half my body, my native counterpart should be hiding in a dingy underground facility, furiously working to stop the Viltrumite threat.
I open a portal directly to the exact coordinates to where my lab should be.
BZZZZT!
I step out, preparing to greet a fellow tortured genius in a dingy lab.
Instead, my boots sink into plush carpeting. I am standing inside a well-lit, pristine corporate office on the top floor of a massive skyscraper.
"Whoa! Hey! Do you mind knocking?!"
I look at the man sitting behind the sleek, mahogany desk.
It's me. But… well adjusted.
I saw no trauma weighing on his soul. Just a regular guy in a crisp coat, sitting in a very expensive ergonomic chair, sipping a caramel latte.
"You…" I point a trembling finger at him. "You haven't ascended."
"Ascended? Buddy, I work in R&D for Chaos Incorporated. The only ascending I do is when I take the private elevator to the penthouse." He takes a slow sip of his coffee, looking at me like I'm a stray dog that wandered indoors. "Let me guess, you're one of those multiverse variants the boss warned me about? Great. Just great. HR is gonna throw a massive fit."
"..."
He is treating me like a nuisance.
'Me! The collective consciousness of a thousand lifetimes! The savior of the multiverse!'
"Listen to me, you ignorant, complacent fool!" I step forward, my voice booming across the office. "I have seen the truth! I remember everything! I have lived a thousand lives, seen a thousand Earths burn under the heel of Invincible and his father! They are a disease! I am on a righteous quest to end him! To save the multiverse from his plague!"
I cross my arms, waiting for it to click.
I expect him to gasp. To realize the terrifying truth of our shared destiny and offer his absolute allegiance.
But once again, he surprises me.
"Look, man," Native Levy sighs, rubbing his perfectly normal-sized temples. "I get it. You're on a crusade. You've got the big brain, the tragic backstory, the dramatic monologue. But I have premium dental insurance here. I have a 401k. Do you know how hard it is to find a company that actually matches 401k contributions in this economy?"
"What are you babbling about?!" I snap.
"I'm saying, if you wreck my office, the Chairman is going to deduct the property damages from my holiday bonus," he says flatly. "And I was planning on buying a boat."
"A boat?! The multiverse is at stake!" I roar, the veins on my brain pulsing with agonizing pain.
"Oh man… you're so out of the loop, big guy." Native Levy waves a dismissive hand. "You're talking about ancient history. That narrative you're selling? It's completely dead here."
"Dead? Constants do not die!" I yell.
"Yeah, they do." He shrugs casually, leaning back in his chair and putting his feet up on the desk. "About six months ago, everything flipped. The Guardians of the Globe are still alive and kicking butt! Heck, forget Omni-Man, we stopped a whole Viltrumite squad invasion!"
He makes a casual throat-slitting gesture.
"Not to mention Omni-Man is defeated and magically enslaved. And Invincible? The kid has been working tirelessly to prove he's nothing like his father for 6 months now. He's basically a boy scout. So whatever revenge tour you're on, you've got the wrong universe."
"..."
I stare at him. My brain throbs violently, threatening to burst out of my skull.
'Enslaved? A pet?! Stopped?!'
This is impossible! Someone changed the narrative! Someone broke the fundamental rules of the multiverse itself!
A sickening wave of existential dread pools in my stomach. If the constants can be broken… if Invincible can be good and Nolan can be tamed… then my entire crusade… the agonizing pain of a thousand minds trapped in this deformed head…
Was it all for nothing?
'No! I refuse to accept it!'
"You are lying!" I roar, the green portals flaring aggressively around my fists as I storm toward the desk. "You are blind! A corporate sheep living in a false utopia! I will rip the truth out of your skull and make you see!"
I reach out to snap his smug, normal neck.
But my hand never reaches him.
GRAB.
A hand appears on my shoulder.
It's not just a hand. It feels like an immovable, crushing mountain just anchored itself to my collarbone. The sheer, terrifying weight of it instantly paralyzes my entire nervous system.
"..." I freeze.
I can't move. I can't even breathe.
I slowly, stiffly turn my head around.
A young man with glasses is standing right behind me. But the aura radiating off his body is absolute, suffocating terror.
He smiles menacingly, his eyes glinting with a dangerous, playful light.
"Gotcha!"
[A/N]:
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