Time Elapsed: Two Months and Sixteen Days.
"We're up another four hundred percent in quarterly acquisitions," Titan's voice echoed through my earpiece, sounding equal parts exhausted and astounded. "The new and improved Invincible Inc. headquarters is fully operational. We've hired three hundred new staff members this week alone. Grayson... at this rate, we're going to own half the city's infrastructure by Christmas."
"Good," I replied calmly. "Let's keep the momentum going. If anyone pushes back on the mergers, just buy their parent company."
I hovered three miles above the Pacific Ocean, holding an abandoned, 100,000-ton decommissioned cruise ship over my head with one hand.
I wasn't wearing the Bio-Reactive Containment Suit. I was in standard workout gear, though the heavy, hyper-dense necklace hung around my neck. Even deactivated, the sheer weight of the activator pieces forced my muscles to constantly adapt. Lifting the cruise ship wasn't a strain. It was just light morning cardio to keep my blood flowing.
It had been exactly seventy-six days since I walked back through that portal.
The transition back to my Earth had been exactly as jarring as I expected. I hadn't told anyone where I actually went or what I actually did. My official story was that I had locked myself in a specialized Invincible Inc. warehouse for a two-week intensive training camp.
No one really bought it, but no one could prove otherwise.
And honestly, I didn't give a shit if they did. What're they gonna do? Beat me up for the information?
When I first walked into the GDA, Cecil's face had been a picture of perfectly masked panic. His biometric scanners couldn't get a read on my heart rate or my energy signature because my bio-electric field was constantly scrambling them. He saw the extra inch of height, the 245 pounds of hyper-compressed density, and the cold shift in my posture.
I could tell immediately that he was planning for countermeasures. But all his little tricks wouldn't even be enough to tickle me now.
During the time away, at year three or so, I've made sure to counteract all lethal weaknesses of mine.
When I saw Debbie, she hugged me immediately. She was relieved that I was safe, but I felt her stiffen when her arms wrapped around what felt like a warm iron statue. She looked into my eyes and could tell that I wasn't the same boy she raised.
She didn't press for details, but from the look on her face I could tell that she felt like she lost someone else she thought she knew.
William was more vocal. "Dude, what'd you eat? Steroids and milk?" he stammered, staring at my broader shoulders and thicker neck.
Everything was relatively the same with him. Which I was glad for.
When Rex saw me he was confused at first. "What happened?! You look like you ate a truck."
I told him I was carbo loading, but he ain't buy that shit at all. Everything ended up being relatively normal with him too.
But when Eve saw me, I could tell that she was the only one who truly understood the scale of what had happened to me. Because she saw the world on a molecular level, the first time she looked at me, she actually gasped and took a step back. She saw my smart atoms packed together so tightly it defied the laws of physics. When she quietly asked me where I had really been, I just gave her a small smile and told her I couldn't say.
Not sure if I ever will. It might be one of those secrets I take to the grave with me.
"Invincible," Titan's voice cut through my musings, bringing me back to the present. "Our new communications director just flagged a high-priority alert. National Archives. Two unidentified metahumans are trying to steal the Declaration of Independence. Rex Splode is already on the scene."
"I see," I said as I casually tossed the cruise ship a few hundred feet into the air. "I'll make my way there now."
I caught the ship from the bow to ensure it wouldn't capsize, and set it gently down into the ocean. Then I placed my mask on, activated the suit and made my way towards the destination.
Moments Later…
I arrived where the archives were being stored in Washington D.C.
The plaza in front was a mess. Unconscious security guards were scattered across the concrete, groaning. In the center of the chaos, Rex was actively engaging Dropkick and Fightmaster—the time-traveling, martial arts brothers who had come to steal the Declaration of Independence.
Rex stepped inside Dropkick's guard, his hands glowing with a faint, volatile orange light. Implementing the kinetic boxing I told him about, he drove his fist forward, charging the compressed air molecules between his knuckles and the target.
BOOM.
A point-blank shaped charge detonated right on impact, sending Dropkick skidding violently across the concrete.
Wooooo, that had a lot of power in it.
Fightmaster turned, raising his glowing temporal gauntlets to blindside Rex, but I dropped out of the sky and landed directly between them. The concrete spider-webbed under my boots.
Fightmaster didn't hesitate. He unleashed a furious, blindingly fast combo of martial arts strikes, his fists glowing with temporal energy, aiming directly for my chest and jaw.
But I didn't block or dodge. I just stood there, menacingly.
Every strike hit me dead-on, and every single one was completely absorbed and nullified by my bio-electric field and the suit's kinetic regulators. It was like watching a toddler try to knock over a stone wall. He wasn't even moving me a fraction of an inch.
Fightmaster finally stopped, his chest heaving, staring at his bruised knuckles in absolute disbelief.
"My turn?" I asked casually.
I reached out and delivered a light, two-finger tap to the center of his chest, releasing a micro-fraction of stored kinetic energy. The impact knocked the wind out of him so violently that his eyes rolled back. He collapsed to his knees, completely paralyzed and gasping for air.
Before I could turn to check on Dropkick, a blur of motion flew in on a hovercraft from above.
"You killed her!" a voice screamed.
Multi-Paul—Dupli-Kate's twin brother—landed in the plaza. He was glaring directly at Rex with murderous intent.
Right, he still doesn't know that Kate is still alive, I thought. But him blaming Rex for the Lizard League's "massacre" is crazy.
Instantly, Paul began to duplicate, spawning a dozen clones that rushed Rex all at once.
Nah, I don't have time for this, I thought as I moved quickly.
I cut through the wave of clones with surgical precision. I didn't have to waste too much energy on these guys. I utilized a series of rapid, non-lethal nerve strikes to sever their kinetic momentum. In less than a second, the clones vanished into smoke as they lost consciousness. Then I stood directly in front of the original Paul.
I grabbed him by the throat in an instant, hoisting him a foot off the ground, completely immobilizing him.
Paul choked, struggling frantically against my grip, but he might as well have been trying to pry open a mountain.
"Wait! Stop!" a new voice echoed across the plaza.
Kate and The Immortal floated down onto the scene.
Rex's jaw practically hit the floor. "Kate?! You're... you're alive?!"
But the reunion was instantly derailed. Behind me, Dropkick had scrambled over to his paralyzed brother, helping him sit up. When the time-traveling duo looked past me and saw The Immortal hovering next to Kate, their faces drained of all color.
Pure, unfiltered terror washed over them.
"It's him..." Fightmaster whispered, his voice trembling as he scrambled backward. "The Evil King!"
Immortal frowned, his arms crossed tightly over his chest. "Excuse me?! I am no tyrant."
I looked down at the terrified brothers. I already knew exactly why they were here, and why they were looking at the Immortal like he was the devil himself.
"You came to steal the Declaration of Independence," I said, cutting through the tension. "Why?"
"Because we thought the historical ink could be synthesized into a poison to kill the Evil King ruling over our timeline," Dropkick said frantically, pointing a shaking finger at Immortal. "He rules everything! He's immortal! Nothing can kill him!"
That's gotta be the goofiest thing I've ever heard. It's actually hilarious, I laughed mentally. This Mickey Mouse ass plan was never gonna work.
I refocused on the two brothers.
"If I take care of your problem right now," I said calmly, "do you swear to never return and cause a ruckus in my timeline again?"
The brothers looked at my massive frame. After the absolute physical dominance I had just displayed, they realized I was easily the most terrifying being they had ever encountered. They nodded vigorously. "Yes! Anything!"
"Wait a minute," The Immortal snapped, stepping forward, his eyes narrowing. "You can't just go to the future and execute someone. Even if it's an alternate me, that could violate every—"
"Watch me," I said as I ignored him.
I tossed the unconscious Multi-Paul onto the concrete at Rex's feet. "Watch him for me," I told him.
Then, I walked over to the time-travelers, grabbing them each by the shoulder. "Take me to this King."
Fightmaster retrieved the hovercraft they used to get here and Drokick opened a portal that took us away quickly.
We materialized in a ruined, dystopian environment. The sky was choked with ash and burning orange clouds. And the air smelled like rust and death.
We arrived at the ruins of a massive palace. Sitting on a throne of scrap inside was The Immortal.
But he wasn't the proud, arrogant warrior I knew. His hair was longer, his eyes were deeply sunken, and he was muttering insanely to himself, his fingers twitching against the armrests.
He looked up, sensing the shift in the room. He didn't look angry when he saw me standing there. He just looked impossibly exhausted.
"Invincible...?" the older Immortal croaked. Tears welled in his crazy, bloodshot eyes. "You left me in charge... I was supposed to protect them. But I lived too long... everyone died. I ruled for too long. My mind... it's gone."
I stared at him for a moment and contemplated the tragedy of his existence.
Goodness gracious, he went super crazy. But exactly how long has it been? Was this my direct future, or just a possible branch? I pondered. All I really know is that he needs someone like Robot… maybe not Robot. If the future turned out this way, he must have manipulated some things. Looks like I'll need to find someone with an extended life to keep him sane across the centuries. It's something I'll have to think about when I get back to the present. I can't afford to let one of Earth's heavy hitters become a super liability and plunge things into chaos like this.
"Please," King Immortal begged. He slid off his throne, his knees hitting the stone floor in front of me. He bowed his head. "End it."
I stared at him for a brief moment longer, then simply nodded.
I stepped forward, gripped his head in my hands, and twisted.
SNAP.
His body slumped to the floor, lifeless. I pulled his head clean off after and crushed it.
This timeline's nightmare was over.
The two brothers stared at the corpse, absolutely paralyzed with shock and overwhelming relief. "You... you actually did it. In five seconds, you did it."
"Yes, it's done," I acknowledged calmly. "Now, take me home."
Seconds Later…
I stepped back onto the concrete of the National Archives plaza.
I was standing behind the others. Kate was still running toward her brother. Immortal still had his hand raised in mid-protest. Rex was staring at the spot I had just occupied.
To them, I had vanished with the duo into the portal and reappeared a microsecond later in a different spot. The dust from Rex's kinetic explosion hadn't even settled on the pavement yet.
The time-traveling brothers collapsed onto the ground behind me, weeping with joy, entirely ignoring the confused heroes.
I rolled my shoulders, looking at Rex and Immortal's completely stunned faces.
"Did I miss anything?"