In the basement…
A handsome young man with white hair kept staring at himself in the mirror held up by a brownish-yellow Robot drone.
He touched his face, his hair, his body—checking every inch of himself. His eyes held nothing but disbelief… and more disbelief.
"Are you satisfied with your new body?"
"I heard Dr. Genus thought you were too ugly, so he 'improved' your looks a little—based on his own tastes."
As the young man kept inspecting himself, Jovian pushed the basement door open. Looking at how the entire vibe had changed, he raised two fingers in front of the young man, gesturing a tiny amount.
"This is what you call 'a little'?"
Jack stared at his reflection, not even sure what to say. He didn't know what he was supposed to look like, but he remembered what the people closest to him looked like—and after Dr. Genus's operation, he felt like even his entire biology had been rewritten.
"That isn't important," Jovian said.
"What matters is that we can finally talk properly about what we're going to do next."
Jovian carried in a chair from outside and sat across from Jack. Unfortunately, even though this underground lab was huge, there wasn't a single chair to be found—so he had to bring his own.
"Sorry," Jack said. "I never needed chairs before."
"You know… back then I looked… what's the word… grotesque?"
He gave Jovian a small smile, cracking a dry joke he never would have made in his old state.
"Let's settle what we're calling you," Jovian said, smiling faintly.
"What should I call you now?"
Even if Jack chose a different name, Jovian would still call him Jack—but basic courtesy was basic courtesy.
"I used to be Rudolph Conners. My nickname was Rudy. But there's no need for that anymore."
"Rudolph Conners is dead. Now I'm Jack Conners. Just call me Jack."
Reborn, Robot—Jack—answered with a smile.
"Good."
Jovian nodded again and again. As expected, Robot was smart. He understood how things worked.
"Then, Jack… do you have any doubts?"
"Any questions you want to ask me? Like why I saved you… or what my real goal is…"
Jack's expression stayed calm.
"I think I've figured out some of it."
"I hacked Cecil Stedman's computer. That's where I got the information about the Guardians of the Globe's deaths."
"They were killed with overwhelming, crushing force—brutally."
"In my database, only two people on Earth could do that. One is Omni-Man… and the other is…"
Jack didn't finish the sentence. He simply looked at Jovian, letting the implication hang in the air.
"Haha…"
"You really are smart."
Jovian only chuckled.
"And if I combine that with the proposal you pushed after moving into the Guardians of the Globe—forcing all heroes to register, be ranked, assigned, and dispatched under your command…"
"It isn't hard to guess what you want me to do."
Jack continued, eyes fixed on Jovian.
"You want me to help you control the entire information network."
"You want me to help you carry out your plan to unify the world."
"Correct."
Jovian didn't deny it. He did need Jack's help for exactly that.
"Even though you gave me a new life… it's hard for me to help you the way you're asking," Jack said, shaking his head.
"I don't think conquest has any meaning. It won't make humanity evolve."
"No meaning?"
Jovian shook his head, disappointment flickering in his eyes.
"You're still thinking too small."
"How could what we're doing be meaningless?"
"On the contrary… it's immensely meaningful."
"This is a war."
"Humanity—every human, across the entire universe—will, under my leadership, declare war on every alien species out there."
"This is a war between forms."
"It will decide how resources are distributed across the universe."
"It will decide humanity's status in the cosmos."
"How could that be meaningless?"
Jovian spoke with fierce conviction.
"A cosmic war…"
Jack had never considered that. He had never imagined Jovian's ambitions were this vast.
"That's right. A cosmic war."
Jovian's vision had never been limited to Earth. Earth was too small.
If he called himself Freeborn—if he couldn't tolerate anything that refused to bow—then he would build the strongest empire imaginable: an invincible empire led by humanity.
The drums of the Great Crusade were already beating. This would become another Warhammer 40,000.
Like in Mass Effect, when humanity and its allies take the fight to civilization-ending threats out among the stars… or like Warhammer 40,000's Emperor and the Great Crusade.
Sometimes the reason for war really is that simple: we don't look the same. Fine—then we fight.
The victor decides the future of the universe. The defeated crawl into the gutters and cling to life.
"I will unite Viltrumites, humans of Earth, and every human-shaped intelligent species in the universe into an enormous cosmic empire."
"I will ensure that in the known universe, the unknown universe, and even across the multiverse—within this vast, hostile cosmos—there is only one higher intelligent species that stands above the rest: the human form."
"You will all become my subjects, because my supremacy is absolute—because it is absolute."
"Now, I need your help."
When Jovian finished, he extended his hand to Jack.
"Allow me to pledge myself to you, my Emperor."
Jack clasped Jovian's hand, closed his eyes, and dropped to one knee.
Jovian's face remained expressionless as he accepted Jack's loyalty…
From the moment his power awakened, Jovian had never planned to entertain himself on Earth or spend his days showing off. That was beneath him.
He had only one goal: to build a vast, human-centered cosmic empire.
He would make every human on Earth live a thousand years. Every one of them would have a body of steel.
When he became Superman, the entire world would become Superman.
And the universe would tremble before humanity.
That—only that—was what it meant to be truly Freeborn.
He wanted humanity to sit at the top of the multiverse's ladder. Everything else—every other alien lifeform, whether some giant space lobster species or some savage, furry war-beast race—would be fit only for food or pets.
They would never deserve a seat at the same table as humanity.
A thousand years from now, when the new humanity swept aside every last act of defiance, every being in the universe would look at him and call him only one thing:
The Progenitor.
Or an even grander title…
The Emperor.
Jovian was wildly ambitious—for his species.
But before all that…
"I need to get my hands on the loyalty imprint."
Before he perfected Compound V and gave the entire world bodies of steel, he decided he had to consult his great predecessor from Warhammer 40,000—the Emperor on the Golden Throne—and really explore what loyalty meant.
What stronger loyalty looked like.
What absolute, damn loyalty looked like.
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