Chapter Text
"This device is amazing! I can actually talk to you guys!"
You sway through the common area of the spaceship, rubbing your temple where they had implanted the chip allowing for telepathical communication.
Nolan sinks back into the cushion of the sofa, grunting in annoyance as you sit down next to him. "Great."
"Ah c'mon, Grayson." You softly poke his side with your elbow, but the man just continues glaring daggers at you. "Why don't you go talk to someone more sociable?"
You shrug, the bantering facade crumbling for just a second. "Half of our team are minors, duh. And Allan seems great, but ever since his girlfriend knows of my powers, she looks like she wants to murder me whenever I'm just in the same room as him."
The sharp features of Nolan's scowl soften a bit, recalling how you used to latch onto him back when you realized he wasn't affected by your powers. It was unnerving of course, but with his newfound compassion for others, he now saw it in a different light.
"It's nothing new, of course." Though your tone remains cheerful yet insincere, unable to cover up an ounce of pain in it. "You know everyone avoids me, even if I only use sign language...I guess they can't shake off the feeling that I am going to manipulate them eventually, or that I am doing it already without them realizing. So I can sympathize with Conquest in a way."
"No, you can't." Nolan's voice is firm, almost scolding. "I know you think you do, but what he- what we did, it exceeds your comprehension."
There's an air of profound sadness surrounding him, an unusual sight for the usual eccentric Omni-man. "Our crimes can never be redeemed. We yearn for death to ease the suffering of our existence, but that would be a far too easy way out. Loneliness is our punishment..."
"My my, so gloomy today..." You put a reassuring hand on Nolan's shoulder, and much to your surprise he didn't rip it right off. "Your wife really did humble you, huh?"
The Viltrumite growls at you, yet you'd only laugh it off, raising your arms placatingly. "If it's any consolation, I think it's remarkable wanting to change even after passing the alledged point of no return. I won't say you'd deserve it, because you clearly don't, but...maybe Debbie will come to realize this as well."
Nolan looks at you, really looks at you, unable to crack a meek but hopeful smile.
"I was...mistaken" he murmurs broodingly, resting his elbows on his knees. "Humanity possesses a different kind of strenght. Your species has the power to change everything."
"That's why I'm here. That's why I need to see him again."
"I still have to disagree" he explains with his usual stoicism, yet his words show how much he grew to care. "You have a twisted concept of bonds because of your powers. Whatever you saw in Conquest, I guarantee you it has died long before you were even born."
You defiantly roll your eyes. "You're far from a position to judge anyone, my friend."
Cecil had tried to talk you out of it as well. Told you the only reason you're not in prison for high treason was the fact that without Invincible, earth was practically defenseless. That your powers are useless in the vaccum of space, and you should rather try and correct your mistake by protecting the planet whose biggest threat you helped escape.
And honestly? They're both right.
When you were a child, one year seemed like an eternally long concept.
But as you age and a year turns into a smaller and smaller fraction of your life, it seems to rush by before you even notice.
So how would mere weeks, not yet a couple of months, feel to a being that's been alive for literal thousands of years?
Insignificant, surely.
The possibility of you having made any impact was most likely just wishful thinking.
Either way, the Empire most likely knows about your existence by now, and they'd do anything in their might to eliminate such a potential threat.
They would've come for you sooner or later - and you'd rather choose the terms for your death yourself.
A fitting last thought, considering death would come way sooner than you had anticipated.
Because next time you'd open your eyes, that conversation was the last thing you recalled, and you have no clue what happened or how much time had passed since then.
Your eyes were still adjusting, but the first thing you noticed was that your surroundings were encoated with not just silence, but a complete absence of sound.
Are you in space? What about-
"You're awake!" Oliver jubilates, yet quickly turns serious again as he points to a random spot in between floating debris. "No time to explain. Look!"
Viltrumites, two of them - and right in their midst appeared the man you had traveled across the galaxy for.
The moment Conquest locked eyes with you his manic smile vanished in recognition, just to resurface into an even more vicious grin.
"Ah, little bird..." his booming voice drings to your mind, "Seeking me out yourself, eh? Spares me the time to come looking for you."
"If I didn't know any better I'd say you missed me" you respond teasingly, putting on a confident smirk despite terror settling heavy in your bones.
"Bold one, aren't ya?" The words are accompanied by him erupting in boisterous laughter, the sound ringing in your head like a drill. "I must admit you're starting to grow on me. If you have a death wish, then I'll gladly grant it."
While everyone else had already engaged in combat, the tremendous bloodlost oozing off of Conquest had you paralyzed in fear.
All of your friends were busy fighting off the other enemies and their reinforcements, and there was nothing you could do other than brace yourself for the inevitable.
However as soon as Conquest dashed towards you, the pain you anticipated did not come through. Lowering your arms that were defensively raised above your head, you see the Viltrumite merely hover over you, observing with a mixture of sadistic glee and fascinated curiosity.
"Toying with your prey?" you spat, surprised by your own courage to speak in the face of personified death. "How cruel."
"Should you really keep talking, little bird?" Conquest pauses mid-motion, tilting his head slightly as he assessed you. "Won't your allies be put under the same spell as us?"
You squint your brows in confusion. "My powers don't work telepathically."
Lies.
But when he looks around, everyone including his own comrades seem to be unbothered despite hearing you clearly in their minds.
Then why does his hear claw against his ribcage in such manner?
Why does he feel this invisible pull towards you, this urge to take you into his arms and never leave your side again?
"Oliver, now!" Nolan shouts to his son, who uses Conquest's distraction as opportunity to get you away from the man.
"Imma get some air, hide you somewhere, and return to the others, okay?" You nod, hearing Conquest roar your name as he struggles to fight off Nolan to chase after you. "He's definetly going to kill me..."
"Nah, we got you!" Oliver tries to lift your spirits, but is soon brought back to reality again as the oldest Viltrumite appears behind you again, right as you entered the stratosphere.
"Not so fast!" With one swift motion, he slapped the kid away like an insect, scooping you into his own arms before you could fall to certain death. "Now where were we..."
Ascending this quick made you dizzy, and when he finally dropped you onto the ground you struggled to pull in agonizing breaths, since the air around you was not made up of the same proportions as on Earth. You try to sit up but he pushes you down with just his index finger, his strenght feeling like a steel beam just fell on top of your sternum.
Conquest moves on top of you as he pushes you further into the ground, the cold metal of his synthetic arm digging into your vocal cords just enough so no sound would escape your mouth.
"Usually I don't bother with weaklings..." he huffs, voice dripping with excitement, "...but for you, I'll make an exception."
You weakly flail at the Viltrumite as he keeps you pinned down, his face turning sombre as he watches this blatant display of just how much you are beneath him in every way.
"When I first came to my senses from your trance, all I could think of was giving you the most excruciating death imagineable." His hand moves to the center of your thorso, just lingering there for now. "I wanted to pluck your heart from your chest, feeling its last beats in my palm to mend the humiliation of baring my own to you. But then I realized something..."
In a subconscious motion, he wipes at your cheeks, leading his wettened hand to his tongue to savour your tears. "We are kindred souls, you and I. Both doomed to be alone until our last breath..."
"You once asked me how I would kill you." Even his artificial fingers start trembling as his other hand cradles your face, contemplating to crush your skull like he once proclaimed. And yet he does it with such tenderness, it makes your heart ache worse than the prospect of death.
"What happens now is an act of mercy. There's no malice or resentment to it. It's something I seek out in each battle, but have been denied until now. In the end I always prevail."
With a silent plea, you wipe at the dampness of his own cheeks, tears he didn't even realize to have shed.
But there is no use, at least that he tells himself.
"Thank you for everything..." Conquest whispers, his tears hitting your face. "Now let me relieve you from your suffering-"
Yet just before he could deliver the finishing blow, Invincible knocked him off of you, the impact almost injuring you as well.
"Ah, boy..." Conquest sneers, gripping the hero by his costume. "We were so rudely interrupted during our last fight. But you gotta Wait. Your. Turn!" Each word was undermined with a merciless punch, the last one sending him flying directly into a rock formation.
Frantically, he rushed back to you, wanting to finish what he started before Mark would regain consciousness...
...but when he returned, Kradd had already found you first.
The Viltrumite had you dangle above the ground, already battered throughoutly with blood pouring from several wounds.
"So this is supposed to be a threat to us?" he scoffs, digging his fist so deep into your abdomen that you vomited pure blood. "Either way, you'll receive punishment for your transgression against the Empire."
Then he flattens his hand, preparing to cut right through you...
...just for Conquest to turn Kradd's head into a macabre picture of carnage with no hesitation.
You drop to your knees as the headless body falls limp, feeling the nauseating texture of bone fragments and brain matter splattered across your skin.
But Conquest isn't done yet, tearing that very arm used to hurt you from the corpse's body, beating it into an unrecognizeable pulp while screaming like a feral beast.
When he finally stills, chest still rising and falling with strained breaths, only a single sentence would fall from his lips - like he'd solemny declares it not only to his fallen comrade, but you as well.
"That one's mine."