1.
I took a desperate breath of air. It tasted like bleach, dried copper, and a strange underlying scent I couldn't place. My eyes opened only to immediately be closed at the harsh light. The brief glance at the world was nothing more than white. Slowly, I opened my eyes again. The world was still white after my eyes adjusted. In the moment a flood of information settled into my mind. I was nude, the underlying scent was plastic, and I was currently in a white body bag. I doubted there was a single hair on my body. It is incredibly weird to instinctively know that I lack eyebrows.
Panic bounced at the edge of my control. I clamped down on it. Not now. I could freak out after I was out of a body bag. My finger poked through the fabric easily. I dragged it down long enough for me to sit up which I did.
Being able to see the area around me didn't make the situation any better. The room was the sort of sterile that only came from hospitals and labs. My breath came out in little puffs of steam informing me that I wasn't just in a hospital, or whatever, but cold storage. Looking down at my perch let me know that I had been lying on a metal slab. One of many that were lined across the room. Each one had a body in a bag that matched mine. The difference being that they were only humanoid in the barest of sense. It was an old-fashioned freakshow covered in plastic. Bodies with extra limbs, some without any, rib cages curved open like a bear trap, and worse were scattered among the body bags.
Yeah, I had to get out of here now. There was a strange identification number on the edge of my body bag. My name was not part of it. Wait . . . What was my name? Not the time. Panic was for when I wasn't in a giant refrigerator surrounded by corpses. Damn, I hope they are corpses.
The metal floor was cool against my bare feet. It wasn't cold enough to match the way my breath came out in bursts of mist. Instead of focusing on that line of thought I made my way to the door. It was an industrial sized roller door. There wasn't a lock or a handle, just a groove on the floor where it would slide open. I did not like the idea of waiting around for someone to open it.
I pressed my hands against the door. It shifted on the track. I jumped back at the unexpected movement. The door didn't open any wider. It was me that made it move, not someone on the other side. I floated back to the door to inspect it. There was a slight depression where my hands had been. They were lower now for some reason. I looked down to realize I was floating about a foot off the ground. My arms waved out at my sides to try to find balance I didn't need. I calmed down after a moment of not falling.
I was flying. It was only a foot off the ground, but it was still flying.
Slowly, I dropped back to the ground. This time the door smoothly slid along the track. There was a chunk of metal hanging off the door that had once been the lock. It opened to reveal a mixture between a chemistry lab and a morgue. Humanoid forms in various stages of development and mutation floated in large tubes filled with green liquid. The bodies that were able to be identified as looked the same. There were three distinct 'people' floating in the tubes.
I couldn't find any sort of marks of identification. Not even another strand of seemingly random numbers and letters. A new sound broke me from my inspection. The door on the far side of the room unlocked. I jumped at the sound and found myself pressed flat against the ceiling.
My brow scrunched as a trio of robots entered the room. They communicated in a high-pitch string of chirps that I didn't understand. Something told me it was binary. I had no idea how I knew that. Another piece of hidden knowledge let me know these were Robot's Drones. Robot, the mechanical hero that had formed the Teen Team and was now a member of the Guardians of the Globe. It was good to know, but it created more questions. Why were drones that looked like Robot running a cloning facility? How did I know all of this? How was I going to escape?
The two sat at a station that appeared to be empty. A monitor emerged from the stretch of desktop. They pulled a cord from the back of their head and plugged it into the monitors. The screens flashed with words and numbers that I couldn't get a see properly.
I drifted down from the ceiling to land between the two. They didn't seem to be able to see while connected to the monitors and I didn't think they would be happy to see me out of the fridge. I positioned my hands behind their heads then punched forward shattering them then pulled them out of the way.
The text on the monitors stopped. I took one of the now open spots at the workstation to delve into the system. The text began to speed across the screen once more. My mental processing power was insane. It was moving just as fast as it had been for the drones and I didn't have an issue keeping up with it.
This was indeed a cloning facility staffed by Robot. The security was non-existent. Robot didn't think that anyone would be able to discover the place let alone access the system. The information sent a rock into my stomach. I was correct, there were three different sources of the clones. Mark Grayson, also known as Invincible, Rex Sloan also known as Rex Splode, and Zandale Randolph better known as Bulletproof. Every clone had been a failure in one aspect or another. I, apparently, was another failure. Robot had taken my successful physical development as a potential success and tried a 'flash download' of information. Apparently, my mind shattered during the process which led to me being tossed into a body bag. Robot hadn't been able to activate Mark's Half-Alien DNA meaning I wasn't supposed to have superpowers.
"Wrong on both points, bolt-head," I muttered.
I was a genetically adjusted clone of Maria Grayson. Invincible. Fuck. I needed to get out of here before Robot realized something was wrong. He had made me and a few others as an experiment if he could recreate a Viltrumite physiology for his own use. I needed to get out of here and cover my tracks. The last thing I wanted was Robot coming after me. Considering the amount of volatile chemicals in the lab, and the knowledge now bouncing around my head, I could turn this place into a crater with a few flips of a switch.
First I needed to gather more information. The flash-download was more of a stress test than an actual training program. In other words, I knew a little about a lot of things, but nothing focused. Recent history was the best place to start.
The original Guardians of the Globe had been killed. Robot had been placed in charge of recruiting the new members. A broader search told him that this world was a mess. There was a constant string of giant monsters, mad scientists, and alien invasions. The world needed every single hero it had. In fact, it could use my help too.
Information about the lab was easy to find. The clones were created to transfer his consciousness to a new body. Robot wasn't actually a robot; he was a disfigured person living in a tube not unlike the ones in the lab. The creepy portion being that he chose the potential bodies on how much his teammate Monster Girl found attractive. I shook my head. This guy was a creep.
This new information did not make me want to stick around any longer. It was time to go.
§
The lab was located in one of the many patches of wreckage around the city. The city being Chicago. I didn't know what had caused this section of destruction. The new crater with a pillar of fire in the center was my doing. It hadn't been the only cloning lab that Robot had, but it was the closest one.
I was crouched in the wreckage of a building a distance away from the crater. All of the clothes I found were fit for a kid, which I was not. My body was aged to eighteen years to match Maria in hopes of gaining the Viltrumite genetic abilities. An aberration such as I was not part of his plan. He didn't think he could make a mistake. I had been marked as a failure to be disposed; there was no chance that I would be alive.
Currently, that meant I was bare ass naked hiding in a destroyed building. Robot had put in some surveillance in the area to keep an eye out for heroes. Flying would raise the alarms which left me scurrying among the ruins.
Now I needed clothes, food, and shelter all while avoiding being discovered by Robot or the GDA. It would have been much easier if it had been nighttime.
There was considerably more destruction than I had expected. The Flaxan Invasions caused damage, but this seemed excessive. I was able to move from one ruined building to another. There were work crews trying to clear the worst of the destruction. I made sure to keep a wide berth from them. A naked guy slinking around the ruins would raise a lot of questions I didn't want to answer. Even if I got lucky enough to pass myself off as a survivor of whatever had happened here my information would be noted somewhere. I wanted to stay anonymous for as long as I could.
It hit me that this wasn't the right area for the Flaxan Invasion. That had been downtown, this was closer to the residential areas. Almost like someone was aiming for the highest possible body count.
I slipped into the remains of an apartment building. It was a four levels counting the one on the ground, and most of the top level was gone. The rubble and missing walls made it easy to get inside. I didn't expect to find much considering the state of the exterior of the building. It was lucky, for me, that the interior wasn't as bad. The first few apartments were for families, and I wasn't desperate enough to steal mom jeans yet. I struck gold on the only intact apartment on the top floor. The cupboards were stocked with a decent amount of shelf-stable food health food. Protein bars of various flavors, protein powder, and other things that my downloaded knowledge told me were basically sugar-free sweeteners mixed with vitamin powder. The only liquid in the apartment was in the liquor cabinet.
The décor was straight out of a Men's Magazine ad. All it was missing was some stale cigar smoke and hunting trophies on the wall. The neighborhood was a disaster zone. A fresh layer of dust covered almost every surface. I flicked the light switch a couple of times with no result. The takeout in the fridge had started to rot and the water wasn't running. This place wouldn't be a bad hideout for a day or two.
Being nude in an apartment that belonged to someone else felt weird. I made my way to the bedroom to pilfer some clothing. The sight of my reflection almost made me jump to the ceiling like I had back in the lab. I looked like a young Omni-Man, which made sense as Invincible was their daughter. A male version of her would naturally look like him. The sooner I could grow some hair the better. I don't even have eyebrows right now.
The clothes were good quality. They weren't exactly my size, but they were close enough for now. Thankfully, the shoes were the right size. Whoever owned this place had a thing for suits. The color ranged from black to light blue with a couple of red suits at the end. I went with a blue 3-piece suit with a white shirt though I skipped the tie. Did I need to put the entire suit on? Not really, but it felt silly without the vest and coat. The closest thing the owner had to a casual selection was the workout cloths I found. Going out in public in bike-shorts and tank-top would draw more attention than I wanted.
I needed to get some updated information. The Flaxan Invasion was the last thing I knew about local events. Whatever had happened out there was far worse. I would need to go out into public if I wanted to snag a newspaper. That led to another problem. Money. I hadn't come across any loose cash in my earlier search. There were a couple of fancy looking watches that I could pawn, but that felt a little too much. I had already stolen some of their clothes and I was planning on squatting in the apartment for a while. Selling their jewelry for some cash though, I wouldn't stoop that low.
The local library would be my best bet. My knowledge download came with an old map of the city, pre-destruction. I hoped it would be accurate enough to find it.
§
I walked with purpose down the sidewalk. People hurried around with their own problems. A bald guy in a suit wasn't worth their time. The foot traffic increased as I got closer to the library. There were a series of medical tents mingled among other disaster relief services. Their condition didn't make it look to be brand new. They had probably been around for a week, two at most. People stood in line for water, food, and other necessities. The sight made me realize that the water in my stolen apartment was out as well as the power. A few water trucks were parked along the far side of the street.
"What happened to you?" A young voice asked as I walked.
I turned to see a kid staring at me. They were the first person to acknowledge me and my appearance. I couldn't tell if their gender. The clothes they wore were too big on them and they looked like they were about to fall asleep.
"I wish I knew," I replied with a shrug. "Do you know where I can get a newspaper?"
The kid pointed to a row of wide canvas tents, "That's the media center."
"Thanks," I said before they could ask more questions.
The media center was in a disaster relief tent that could have easily fit a firetruck with room to spare. Plastic pop-up tables were arranged with an old PC for people to use. There was a list of emergency service sites taped on the side of each monitor as well as tips for job searching.
"There is a twenty-minute limit," A woman behind a desk next to the entry said without looking at me. "Sign on the sheet. You can continue after your twenty-minutes if there is no one on the list behind you."
I stared at the clipboard. A name. I didn't have a name. My genetic donor was Maria Grayson. I could use the last name, but my mind stalled when it came to picking out my first name. Most of the list were barely more than scribbles. The woman didn't seem interested in my internal struggle.
The pen had a signs of a line of text that had been rubbed away after being used by so many people. I took it and added my scribble to the list in a vague approximation of Grayson. It was even messier than I had intended. I knew how to write, technically, but this was my first time doing it. It took a couple of tries to get the right grip and another attempt to get the pen to work.
"I just need a newspaper if there isn't a station open," I said.
The woman sighed. She pointed at a magazine rack to the side of her desk. There were a few newspapers. A quick look told me they were a run of one full week. It didn't take a genius to make the connection that it was from the previous week. I took the two oldest to get caught up on recent events.
I had been correct in guessing it wasn't the Flaxan Invasion that caused the damage. Omni-Man went on a rampage, at one point even using Invincible as a tool to kill people. Everyone knew she was his daughter, which made it all the more confusing. There were a couple of pictures that had been taken during and after their fight. Invincible had barely held onto life when Omni-Man left. His rampage ended just as fast as it began. One moment he was yelling at Invincible, the next he was in space heading to another galaxy.
It had been a week, and they still hadn't reached a solid total of the dead. Invincible had been taken by someone supposedly for medical treatment and hadn't been seen since. If I used the photos of the destruction as a reference I could place the cloning lab maybe half a block from one of the impact craters. No wonder blowing up the lab didn't draw any attention. It hadn't been long enough for all of the damage to fully take hold.
Everything after that covered Omni-Man's past with new eyes. Page after page of events that were now being reevaluated for the slightest hint of his true nature. Nothing was concrete, it appeared that he was just another hero until he killed the Guardians and then nearly killed Invincible. Looking at the pictures of the younger Omni-Man made me thankful I didn't have any hair. I was a bad haircut and a mustache away from being mistaken as the most hated man on Earth.
"Keep my hair short, no mustache," I mumbled. "Noted."
I returned the papers. The lady at the desk didn't bother looking at me as I left. A quick glance around helped me find a clothing donation area. People had lost everything and donations had come in from all across the country.
The people handing out the clothes stared at me as I approached.
"These are the only clothes I have," I motioned to my suit. "I was at work when my apartment was turned to rubble."
They shrugged. It was believable enough for them not to care. They had other people to help, and I was just another face in the crowd. Some casual clothes would do to help me blend in. A few local businesses had donated a pallet of new items. I skipped those. Walking around in clothes fresh off the rack would make me stand out among the crowd even more than my suit. It had already picked up some dust and grime from my walk. I grabbed a pair of second-hand jeans that actually fit, some sneakers, and a hoodie with a faded logo that was unreadable. The only shirt they had the looked like it would fit had the Guardians of the Globe logo on it. I sighed as I grabbed it and tucked it under my arm with the rest.
"Thank you," I said to the workers.
They nodded. Another worker stepped over while the other two were busy.
"Don't forget to pick up some water and personal care products," The new worker said.
She looked familiar. The woman was twenty at the most, of Asian heritage, and her hair was shoulder length. A second look made me realize she wasn't dressed in normal clothes like everyone else. She wore a uniform with a number 6 in the center. I scanned the area and picked out five other women who were exact duplicates of her. My downloaded knowledge supplied her name: Dupli-Kate. One of the members of the new Guardians of the Globe. Robot had a file on her powers, weaknesses, and a phycological profile. It was kind of freaky to know what type of coffee she liked and what type of underwear she wore before we were even introduced.
I was able to pick out a few more members of the Guardians of the Globe now that I knew what to look for. They didn't seem to think I was anyone special. The logical part of my brain told me that there wasn't a reason for them to give me a second look. It didn't help the growing panic that was setting in on my chest.
"Thank you," I said as she walked away.
There was a stack of prepackaged kits that had a toothbrush, travel sized soaps, and some generic toothpaste. It didn't look like I would get a shower anytime soon. I know it was a bit morbid, but I hoped that whoever owned my stolen apartment wouldn't be back anytime soon.
"Excuse me," I kept my voice even as Dupli-Kate was a decent distance away.
The person at the desk sighed, "Take on packet per day, per person, and only those that are physically here."
"Ok," I shrugged. "Why are there so many heroes around?"
The person actually looked up at me now, "What?"
"The heroes," I motioned to another Dupli-Kate.
They rolled their eyes, "We're a group of unarmed civilians. That makes every single one of us a target for some unknown creature, mad scientist, or psycho."
"Good point," I muttered. "Have a good day."
I took care to avoid the heroes I could see as I made my way back. It had been tempting to fly back until I saw how many there were. A wave of pink energy flowed along the road further cementing my caution. Atom Eve cleared the street of rubble and used it to rebuild the area as she passed. She took extra care to avoid the utility lines to prevent further damage. Suddenly turning the gas and electricity back on while the damage was so extensive was a bad idea.
Now that I had some casual clothes I could make my way around the city without standing out too much. I had been right about the city needing help and guy walking around in a mostly clean business suit would draw unwanted attention. Another guy in a hoodie wouldn't cause too much fuss as long as I restricted which powers I used. Flying would be out. Super speed as well just to be safe. I would keep it to super strength since it was common enough. The other powers would be kept secret until I got a proper super-suit or at least something better than a hoodie to hide my face.
I needed to change my clothes first.
NOTEI know that Robot worked with the Mauler Twins to create a body for himself. In this story he needed them to transfer his consciousness. He had his own lab to experiment with potential bodies. Invincible is Maria Grayson. I'm not sure who else will be gender-swapped as of yet. It depends on if this story is popular.