A/N:
" " : Speech,
' ' : Thought,
"Italicized text" : Telepathy/Space Speech,
[ ] : Simulation Speech & Notifications.
Discord Invite Link: https://discord.gg/V35WgeqBT
———————————————————
Omniscient POV
Omni-Core, Outer Space, Solar System
A live feed of the Guardians' headquarters' central hub was being transmitted to a volumetric display in the ship's rest area, showing the brutal and gruesome end of the Guardians of the Globe. A few seconds after Omni-Man fell unconscious, the feed cut. Codex then turned to his guests. "So, I think that shows that I had a good reason to bring you all here." He said, looking at their shocked faces.
*Slam!* "There's no way that he would do that! Someone had to have been controlling him!" The Immortal shouted at Codex as he slammed his hand into the table, while the other Guardians looked on with distressed faces.
Yes, despite what had happened in Guardians' HQ, every single one of the Guardians, the real Guardians, was still alive. To understand how this was possible, you would have to go back, just a few minutes before any of them was even 10 miles away from Guardians' HQ.
*Flashback*
Benjamin Everett Tennant POV
"Boss, Omni-Man just sent out an emergency signal to the Guardians." One of my clones told me over comms, letting me know that today was the day. "Okay, then. Begin the replacements." I instructed from the Omni-Core's main control hub. I pulled up 8 surveillance feeds, with seven of them showing feeds of the Guardians' travel paths, and the last showing inside their HQ, where Nolan lay in wait.
I changed the feeds to show the Guardians themselves, as they all headed to their HQ to address the emergency signal, and when each of them was just about 20 miles away from their HQ, I would give the green light for each retrieval.
For each of the Guardians, a clone of mine teleported in directly on top of them, then teleported back to the Omni-Core with each Guardian in tow. But before the Guardians were fully onto the ship, another set of my clones teleported back to the exact spots where the Guardians were taken, with a single unconscious clone of each of the Guardians being held by them.
My clones tapped each clone of the Guardians on the backs of their necks, with the one holding Darkwing doing his a little later, as he had to place him into the Wing Jet's cockpit first. All of the Guardians' clones immediately became conscious, and continued the journey to Guardians' HQ, as if nothing had happened. My clones then teleported back onto the ship.
Understanding that the Guardians would definitely be alarmed at suddenly being teleported somewhere strange, I quickly left the bridge and sped off to the central hub, where they stood back-to-back against each other on one of the teleporters, while looking like they were all about to start fighting.
"Okay, people. Let's calm down. There's no… well, maybe one reason for you to feel like this, but I'll explain what's going on. I'd appreciate it if you didn't start making a mess of the place." I told the Guardians, who all looked over at me, still alert and in ready stances.
War Woman, Darkwing, and Green Ghost looked at me with recognition, then looked around at my clones. "That suit, that symbol. You must be Codex… or rather, all of you are Codex." Darkwing said. "That is… technically right, since they're all clones of me. But nothing like the Mauler Twins, it's more so like splitting off by mitosis." I said, then split off a clone, and stopped the split at my wrists and feet, then reabsorbed the clone.
"I know you want an explanation as to why I've brought you here and I'll give you one. All I ask is that you follow me peacefully." I told them. They looked at each other for a bit, before eventually stepping into less aggressive stances. "Thank you. Please, come with me. It'll be best for you to see this while it's still live." I told them, then quickly grabbed a tablet from one of the clones as I headed out of the central hub.
As we reached the walkway, I turned back to see them keeping a 10m(~30ft) gap between myself and them. Not wanting to bother myself with the annoyance of having to convince them every step of the way, I telekinetically grabbed them and pulled them closer, then brought up a platform that would hold all eight of us with enough space to stand comfortably, but not attack, and set the platform on a course to the R&R area of the Omni-Core, this time, letting its speed go as high as Mach 15. We arrived before the sound of their complaints could reach my ears.
"What the hell do you think you're…!?" Immortal's voice arrived a few seconds late, but I still felt annoyed by it. "Well, come on. We wouldn't want to miss the show." I said, walking into the R&R area's largest lodge. Yes, I made lodges, specifically because I expected that there would come a time when there'd be people living here apart from myself, and I didn't want to have them all trying to bunk with me.
"Come on, you wanted your explanation. It's not gonna wait for you." I said, then walked into the lodge's living room and setting the tablet on the center table. I instructed the nanites to hold the tablet in place and connect to the feed showing the Guardians' HQ, and a 3D hologram was projected from the table's face, showing the feed. The image definitely caught the eyes of the Guardians, as they recognized their base.
""What the…?!"" They exclaimed. "By the way, you might want to take a seat for this. It'll definitely shake you." I said, just as Red Rush's clone arrived. Seeing him arrive at their HQ, they looked at him for an explanation, but he shook his head, saying he knew nothing about what they were seeing. "This is live, by the way." I said, and they reluctantly sat at the chairs around the table, then watched as Nolan killed their clones as a Viltrumite soldier would.
*Flashback End*
Omniscient POV
"How did you know this would happen?" War Woman asked Codex. "And how did you get into our headquarters?" Darkwing asked with narrowed eyes.
"It's simple. I found out the reality of Viltrum and its history, as well as its current condition." I said, and I saw a slight flinch as I mentioned Viltrum. "Amongst the multiple abilities I have, one of them allows me to fly in hyperspace, which means that I can cover intergalactic distances in pretty short times. Add onto that my ability to literally project the history of a place, getting a clone to planet Viltrum and finding out the truth behind Omni-Man's presence on Earth wasn't all that hard." Codex told them, explaining how he knew that Omni-Man would eventually turn on them.
"Elaborate." War Woman said, but he put his hand up. "I'll answer the questions that came first." He said, turning to Darkwing. "As for how I got into your HQ, putting aside the fact that I'm so far ahead of all of Earth's tech, I'm also capable of going intangible. And I mean true intangibility, not the density shifting that you do, Mrs. Alana." He said, calling the Green Ghost by her real name. The fact that he knew who she was in her civilian life created another layer of suspicion towards him, but he didn't seem to really care about it.
"As for your request, Holly, that would require me telling you that the friendship you all thought you had over the last 20 years has been nothing but a lie. Are you sure that you're ready to hear that?" He said, with his tone now matching the solemn air that pervaded the room. "If Omni-Man's a threat to Earth and her people, then we must know his reason for being here, and how we can defeat him." War Woman said through gritted teeth.
"Alright, then. First off, the reason for me entering your HQ was ultimately curiosity. I just wondered what you guys did when you eventually chose to gather there, nothing more." Codex began. "As for the details on how I eventually found out about Viltrum and the fact that Omni-Man's a Viltrumite, that's mainly because of my main ability." He said, and his words caught everyone's attention.
"Main ability?" Martian Man asked. "Yes. My main ability allows me to transform into other sapient species. For example, a Martian." He said, transforming into Mars-Mallow, and Martian Man's eyes widened as he noticed the very notable differences between Codex, himself, and his fellow Martians on the Red Planet.
"Or an Atlantean." Codex continued, turning into Gillotine. His Atlantean form definitely held some phenotypical similarities to Aquarus, but Codex was larger, more muscular, and his scales, fins, and claws looked much sturdier than Aquarus'. Also, his face looked closer to that of a great white shark, rather than the catfish-like face that Aquarus and other Atlanteans had.
"Or… even an Amazon." Codex said, and his voice becoming noticeably feminine, as he transformed into Her-cules. His Amazon form was that of a 7ft tall, muscular, curvaceous woman with long brown hair. His mask still stayed on his face, but his hair was allowed to flow freely, with his hood down.
When he first transformed into his Amazon form, he was surprised to see that he had become female, but he soon rationalized that the Amazons in the Invincible universe were a solely female species, and they were mainly able to increase their numbers because they were genetically similar enough to humans, that they could make children with human men, which would always be female.
"If I could turn to all of those and more, what makes you think I can't turn into a Viltrumite?" He said, transforming into Man-O-War. Unlike when he initially took up his Viltrumite form, his attire was different, now being a combination of his supersuit and a Viltrumite soldier's uniform, making his suit look like the attire worn by the Viltrumite advisors, only with it now being black and green, and the Viltrum Empire's insignia being replaced with the Omnitrix symbol.
"So, when I got this form, I thought to myself: "Why don't I go and actually learn about Viltrumites?". I could have simply had one of my clones go and get the information I was looking for and come back, but I also had an idea. Superluminal communication." He said, and Darkwing and Martian Man, who were the most tech-savvy of the guardians clicked their tongues. "What's that supposed to be?" Aquarus asked.
"A pipe dream." "A fool's errand." Darkwing and Martian Man said. "Tech that can send and receive information at speeds massively faster than light, that'll allow me to receive information lightyears away in real-time" Codex explained. "And as for you two of little faith, did you forget that I already have the information that I needed?" He told Darkwing and Martian Man, and the impact of his words hit like a bomb in their heads. "You… you've already created such technology?" Martian Man asked in disbelief.
"And more. But let me get back to my earlier explanation. After about a week or so of study and simulation, our prototype was ready for its first field test. So, I sent out one of my clones into deep space with the transmitter, while we held on to the receiver." Codex said. "We started off simple; a transmission sent from the Sun to the furthest edges of the Solar System. It went through with zero latency. Then we went further." He said.
"The first point where we saw even a millisecond of latency was at 500 lightyears away. By the time we hit 1,000, the latency had hit 129 milliseconds, and we decided that was enough for the prototype, and began upgrading. Now, we're able to communicate in real-time from an entirely separate galactic supercluster if we wanted. And when we finished the upgrade, I decided it was time we find Planet Viltrum." He said, and the Guardians all unconsciously tensed in their seats.
"Along the way, my duplicates came across multiple planets that held complex life, with a few even having entire civilizations on them. They eventually came across the planet, and it was beautiful… and disturbing." He said, then put up a holographic image of Planet Viltrum. It looked like much like Earth, with water, vegetation, clouds, and diverse biomes, with the major differences the planet had being its greater size and the single narrow ring around it.
"It's definitely beautiful, but I don't see what's so disturbing about it. If anything, it looks better than Earth." The Immortal said. Codex then magnified the image, moving closer to the ring. As the reality of the ring was shown to them, a chill ran down their spines. Instead of rock, ice, or even diamonds, the ring around Planet Viltrum was made solely of the corpses of billions of Viltrumites.
"By Hera, what in Tartarus caused that?" War Woman said, her Amazon culture leaking through. "The Viltrumites." Codex answered. "Imagine if humanity developed without compassion, and had a strength above all mentality, as well as superpowers. You get the Viltrum Empire." He said, then showed different key events that happened throughout Argall and Thragg's ruling periods.
He showed the Viltrumites leaving for the Empire's expansion and returning with slaves from a wide variety of alien species. He showed the extreme indoctrination that Viltrumites went through, as well as the brutal process that those who came of age were subjected to, with parents actively trying to kill their children. He showed the first sparks of revolution amongst the aliens that the Viltrumites had enslaved. He showed the assassination of Argall, Argall's wake, and the point when the Viltrum Empire began its downward spiral.
He showed the extreme culling that went on around the entire planet, which drastically reduced their population. And then, he showed the Scourge Virus and its effects, and how the ring around Viltrum came to be. He showed the painful recovery that the few Viltrumites that survived the Scourge Virus went through, and finally showed the point when Viltrumite soldiers received their directive to infiltrate as many civilizations as they could, so they could find planets where they can repopulate, with Omni-Man being one of these Viltrumite soldiers.
"So everything, all that he's gone through with us… has been nothing but a lie?!" The Immortal said. Having a 20-year relationship be revealed as nothing but part of a ploy to enslave your planet was a painful revelation to receive, immortal or not. "Not all of it. In as much as he doesn't really have respect for any of you, his civilian life hasn't been a lie." Codex said.
"He actually fell in love, and cares for his family. It's just that the twenty years he's spent on Earth is only about 1% of the time he's lived, so it's possible that he might not attach enough importance to them to turn away from his orders. But that's the worst-case scenario." He said, then shut off the hologram.
"That explains how I knew about his attack. As for how I got your clones, well…" Codex said, then told them the process he took to get their DNA. "That voice I heard that day… that was you?" Red Rush asked, and Codex nodded. "As for how I got them to act and fight so much like you guys, it's thanks to these." Codex said, then moved to the each of them, put a finger at the back of their necks, then gently pulled off what looked like a nicotine patch.
"To create your clones, I had to use an upgraded version of the Mauler Twins' cloning tech. But that only left me with empty bodies, and while I could have just created or coded in personalities similar to yours, I wanted to make absolutely sure that Omni-Man felt certain that you were all dead, so I studied the part of the Mauler Twins' cloning machine that copies their brains, and miniaturized it as much as I could, while also making the retrieval of information as painless as possible. Then, using some parts of the superluminal communicator, I made it so that they'd be able to receive copies of your brainwaves from afar, so that they were exactly like you." Codex said, putting the patches into his storage.
"I fully understand that all this that I've said is a gross violation of your privacy, but as you have all seen, it had to be done." He said. "Fine. You've done all this, so what now?" Darkwing asked. "For now, it's best you all get settled in." Codex replied. ""What?!"" They exclaimed.
"Omni-Man is wounded and unconscious now, we can take him out." Darkwing argued. "No, you can't. While you might cause some internal bleeding, none of you are strong enough to penetrate his skin. And besides, I want him alive." Codex said, and they all tensed, with the Immortal and Martian Man looking at him with thinly veiled hostility.
"*Sigh.* I've already planned for this, and for my plan to work, the world has to believe that you're dead, except maybe Cecil and your loved ones." He told them. "And why should that be the case? Why should we even agree with your so-called plan?" War Woman asked. "Because it's the one that end up with the least people hurt." He replied.
"You weren't the only ones lied to, or did you forget that he's also got a family." He said, and they all went still. "Let's say you go ahead, kill him and announce that he's in fact part of an empire of what are essentially Space Nazis that came here to conquer Earth and turn its women to breeding stock for his endangered race to repopulate. Do you believe for a second that they'd believe you over him? And what do you think his son, who's inherited the powers of a Viltrumite, would do after finding out that his father was suddenly laden with such accusations and killed?" He asked them, and a chill seemed to settle in the room, as they imagined just how much damage a vengeful Viltrumite could wreak on Earth.
"Then we take him out as well." The Immortal said through gritted teeth, and everyone looked at him like he was crazy. "I don't think you understand what I'm saying, Abraham." Codex replied. "I'm not asking you guys to go along with my plan, I'm telling you. And if you feel like you can stop me or fuck up my plans, then please, you're welcome to try." Codex said, his voice losing all warmth.
"You think you can–" The Immortal was about to protest, but noticed that none of the other Guardians had the same aversion that he did. "What are you all doing?! We can defeat him if we work together!" He shouted, but none of them responded to his call to battle.
"You said that your plan would end up with the least people hurt. How sure are you of this?" War Woman asked. "Almost certain." Codex replied. "I see… then we'll take your deal." War Woman said. "Does she speak for the rest of you?" Codex asked the other Guardians. "Does she– Of course she doesn–!" The Immortal began to shout, only to have his protest stop itself in his throat when he heard the other Guardians agree.
"What?" He said, confused. "We became heroes to save people's lives, Abe. I hope you haven't forgotten that." War Woman said, staring him down. "I'm glad to see that there's still some level of reason in the room." Codex said, drawing their attention back to him. "Since you've agreed with my plan, I believe it's time we got you to your living quarters." He said as he stood up.
"You've convinced us, but what about Cecil and the GDA? They'll definitely look into this, and they won't be happy with what they find." Darkwing said, bringing up a valid point. "Don't worry about that. I know how Cecil operates, and if anything, he'll be a lot more open to my plan than a certain someone." Codex replied, as he began guiding the Guardians to their new residences
…
Night had fallen, and it had been hours after the Guardians' clones had been killed by Omni-Man, who was still unconscious on the floor. A door into the Guardians' HQ central hub exploded open, and eight GDA Tech-Troopers under the camouflage function of their suits rushed in, their senses taut and their heads on a swivel, as they looked around for any hostiles. Once they confirmed that there were no hostiles, they disabled their camouflage.
"Clear." The leading Tech-Trooper said, and the paramedics that were on standby immediately rushed in. "Go, go, go! One team per casualty! Move it!" The leading paramedic shouted, as they quickly moved to gather the corpses. "Jesus Christ, What the hell happened here?" One of the paramedics said, as he kneeled beside the corpse of Darkwing's clone. "Applying aqueous sealant." A female paramedic said, spraying a green liquid on the corpse of Aquarus' clone, that kept all of its fluids that hadn't already poured onto the floor sealed.
The paramedics worked on the other corpses, with one putting a seal on the Immortal's neck, which momentarily sent an electric signal through the nerves in the corpse, causing it to quickly rise on one knee and hit them away, before falling back to the floor. Another paramedic picked up the severed head, but puked, as the sight and smell disturbed her. She quickly wiped her mouth, and put the head on a stabilizer that would keep the neural activity of the Immortal's head stable enough for him to revive later.
"Omni-Man's alive!" A female paramedic that was scanning for vitals announced. "Get out of the way!" A paramedic told her as he and another paramedic brought an advanced stretcher to carefully carry Omni-Man, so as not to worsen any of his injuries.
As they carried out the bodies of the heroes, Cecil Stedman, the current director of the GDA, and Donald Ferguson, his right-hand man, walked into the hub. "Goddamnit!" Cecil shouted, banging his hand on one of the trolleys in a rare show of anger. With the Guardians dead, not only had the strongest team of heroes on the planet been killed, people he considered close enough to even refer to them as friends had also been killed.
On both a personal and business level, Cecil had lost people that were important to him, and so his outburst, rare as it may be, was one that everyone in the hub understood. Soon, the room was cleared of Omni-Man and the corpses, and Cecil began walking out, but suddenly stopped and whipped his head around, looking back as if searching for something.
"Cecil?" Donald called. "You just go on ahead, Donald. I'll catch up." Cecil replied, and Donald left, leaving only Cecil in the hub, or so it seemed.
"Alright, we're alone. Now show yourself." Cecil said to the seemingly empty room, and Codex disabled his invisibility. He had flown into the Guardians' HQ shortly after the Tech-Troopers gave the all-clear for the paramedics to come in, and stayed invisible and intangible, keeping anyone in the room from noticing him. When only Cecil and Donald were the only other people left in the room, he telepathically reached out to Cecil and told him that he had something important to tell him regarding the situation.
"You… you're Codex." Cecil said, and Codex nodded. "That I am. I'd say that it's a pleasure to finally meet you in person, but the situation doesn't exactly call for that." Codex replied, and Cecil's facial muscles tightened, warping the false skin he wore. "You said that you had information for me. What is it?" Cecil asked, putting aside the sadness he felt.
"Right. Before that, let's make sure this conversation stays private." Codex said, bringing out a cube-shaped device, which he tossed to the ground. Once it stopped moving, the device unfolded, creating a barrier dome that covered everything in a 50ft radius. "There. Now no one's gonna hear us even if they tried eavesdropping." He said, then turned to Cecil.
"I know who your culprit is." He said, and Cecil's eyes widened. For a second, he wanted to grab Codex's collar and demand that he tell him everything he knew, but he stayed his hand, taking a deep breath to calm himself as much as he could. "Who did it?" He asked. "Your guys took him out on a stretcher. I guess in his 2000+ years of living, he hadn't expected to be wounded that heavily by people he saw as weaker than him." Codex replied, and the words went off like a bomb in Cecil's ears.
"Omni-Man did this?" Cecil said. "Yup. But it's best that you don't go after him." Codex said, and Cecil looked at him with a grimace. "We don't go after him?! You're telling me that he took out all of them by himself, and now you're saying that we shouldn't take him out while we have the chance?!" He said, thinking of getting rid of a threat to the planet.
"I know how it sounds, but… what if I can convince him?" Codex said, and Cecil looked at him like he was crazy. "Listen, I knew Nolan before I knew Omni-Man, and if there's one thing I can tell you for sure, it's that he actually loves his family. It's just that he comes from a people that lived by… one of the worst doctrines I've ever seen." Codex said, and a subtle glint went through Cecil's eyes.
"He might have killed them, but it doesn't mean that he has lost all love for Earth, or at least, the few people he actually cares for here. If you go after him now, he'll begin to… let's say… cut off what he'll see as liabilities." Codex said, his voice becoming grim. "If you choose to investigate, and that investigation pushes you and your guys into his personal life, then it's very likely that it'll corner him. And seeing what he's done freely, I don't think we want to see him when he chooses to really let loose." He said, warning Cecil.
"Then what the hell can we do?" Cecil said, understanding that the threat of an Omni-Man that actively wanted to cause destruction was one that Earth wasn't ready to face. "Simple, leave him to me." Codex said. "I'm an actual part of his civilian life, so even if I reveal that I'm a superhero, he won't see it as much more than a fan of his developing powers and wanting to be like him. My presence won't be of any alarm to him, but yours would." He said, and Cecil began contemplating the losses that could be avoided with Codex's plan.
"Also, you don't have to worry too much about the Guardians. They're still alive. The ones that got killed here were clones I made." Codex said, and Cecil looked at him with widened eyes, speechless. Codex floated over to the fragments of the crystal that was in the clone Green Ghost's mouth.
"This isn't the actual Green Ghost amulet. It's just a crystal that I made to have a similar appearance to it." He said, and Cecil watched as the vivid green color of the fragments shifted to an aquamarine hue, much like the crystals Codex produced as Diamondhead. "What the hell?" Cecil said, wondering just who Codex was, and what he knew that he was keeping secret.
"I know you've got a lot of questions, Cecil, but you've got to listen to me. For now, the fact that the Guardians are alive has to remain secret. If it gets out that they're alive, then he'll know that the jig is up. Best case scenario if that happens, he kills a few thousand people and leaves. Worst case, he heads out into deep space without killing anyone, and comes back with dozens of Viltrumites that are almost as strong as him or even stronger, with the singular goal to enslave humanity, which he had initially set out to do." Codex said, and Cecil felt a deep chill go up his spine.
From the day that Nolan arrived on Earth, he held suspicion about his true intentions. But over the twenty years that had passed since then, those suspicions had gradually faded away, and he even began to believe that Nolan was truly here to protect humanity, but hearing that he had instead infiltrated human society with the goal being to enslave them scared him. He had let his guard down so badly that he hadn't even noticed that one of humanity's greatest enemies had become someone that a large portion of humans looked up to. Such a plan was horribly insidious… and it had gotten right past him.
"I know how you must be feeling now, Cecil. But please, for the safety of Earth and all her people, human or otherwise, don't do anything to alert him." Codex said, and against all of the experience he had as someone who had gone from a GDA agent to its director, Cecil agreed. "Thank you, Cecil." He said, gently patting the senior's shoulder. "As for how I'll take care of Nolan, you don't have to worry about that. Just leave it to me." He said, and Cecil wordlessly nodded.
"Okay, then. My work here is done." He said, then walked over to the unfolded cube and touched it, deactivating it. "Be seeing you, Cecil." He said, just before the barrier fully deactivated, then turned intangible and invisible, and flew out of the Guardians' HQ, while Cecil finally left the main hub, joining the other GDA agents.
Chapter End.
…
Don't have a clear schedule, but if I have a chapter, I will always post on Fridays, so check those days. This applies to all the works I'm writing.
Word Count: 5,003
Thanks for reading!