He looked around the devastation of the battlefield between him and World with shock and horror.
Cars had been flipped on their heads and buildings that once towered over the ground below were now nothing but a giant sea of rubble. Workers worked tirelessly to dig through the rubble made by the collision of Worlds and Invictus punch.
His mind was a mess but there was once consistency between each of these thoughts.
If only I did this instead…
If only I dodged instead of punching.
If only I kept the fight in the sky.
If only I made the evacuation area wider.
Many, many things could have gone better but he could only see that now. Often when Invictus felt sad or distorted he would hide above the clouds was no one could see him, but this time there was a nagging sensation that if he did that now he would regret it.
Outwardly he still carried his confident and cocky smile but now it looked broken disconnected from the rest of his face, plus the more confident his smile the more he felt the pain of the tiny cut, something he noted was that his near-invincible body was not actually invincible something even he had learned today and that his absence from feeling any form of pain had left him shell shocked by the tiny amount he felt now.
And his eyes were disheartened enough that his smile looked completely fake to anyone who got close.
He looked around and saw that the aftermath of Worlds first, the one before he was injured, it was like a nuke had been dropped, looking at the rubble of the building that was closest to him when he exchanged blows with World he saw a shadow of a small girl had been burnt into the cement.
He hoped he was seeing things and convinced himself that maybe… just maybe things were not as bad as it seemed. He used logic like how if a nuke had really been dropped there would be no rubble so seeing the shadow of the victims of his failure was most likely his guilt playing tricks on him.
Once more he hoped it looked worse than it was.
But that wasn’t reality, he turned to see someone throwing a body bag over Worlds corpse when he turned to look at the person standing next to him. She too was freaking out, and beyond her, another hero was talking to the press and next to him was another hero. However her freakout was more control, however, it stopped pretty quickly as she kicked the corpse of World before a sea of clicks ran out as possibly thousands took pictures of the action. She also bent down to rub her foot as the old man was harder than she thought he would be and she hurt her toe.
All around him were plenty of individuals wearing blue combat armour with the words police written on the back. They were holding back a giant crowd of onlookers although the presence of Invictus did most of the work.
Then looked at someone stampeding over to him who took one look at his face then turned around before he was called over by Invictus. But it didn’t stop them from shouting out insults, many were covered in dust and were the lucky ones who survived the aftermath of the fight. Their anger was justified even if miss directed after all most of those who lived or worked in the nearby buildings didn’t get to count themselves among the ‘lucky ones’.
Invictus asked the question that had been on his mind “ How many died?”
“THAT! Is a difficult question to answer instead tell me how you're doing?” The man was dressed in a white lab coat with blue jeans on underneath and a pair of black aviator sunglasses.
“ Just tell him.” The woman said, she a was dressed in a blue wizard robe that looked cheap and a black witches hat.
“ … it was the middle of rush hour, we have no idea how many died but it couldn’t be less than a few million.” The man with glasses said.
“ Jesus you really fuck up Invictus letting World play around like that. I told you we should have killed him in secret” The woman said.
Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.
“ NO! Magmanita we are not them!” An explosion of anger within Invictus outcry against the suggestion of assassination resulted in a nothing more than a smug look as she seemed to twist her lips together and a shrug from her.
“ But more importantly riots have broken out all across the last city and the freaks are going wild there have already been calls to send out martial force, the mafia has truly been invigorated by the death of the leader it’s the exact opposite thing that we wanted! Years of anti-corruption have been ruined in a day no doubt. The core is already calling for my job and things aren’t looking good for your image at all! People are freaking out, the Invictus was bleeding and everyone saw it! I’m not saying we’re fucked but we need to face facts we lost far more than we gained today.” The man ranted and raved but no one other than Invictus and a few keen ear reporters. The hero’s present just grew before one of them lost it, dress in silver from head to toe with a silver crown the number two hero came over and threatened the agent “ Just shut the fuck up dude. What the fuck is wrong with you.”
Before pushing him to the ground, there was a sea of clicking noises as thousands of photos were taken of that moment.
The hero who was talking to the press came over and said “ Well, looks like we gave them a front-page story hey? Invictus’s agent announcement of defeat followed by a violent attempt to suppress the news… I can see the print already.``” Unlike the rest of the people present he was dressed in a grey hoodie and some black pants and other then one thing he looked like an ordinary guy however this man was the fourth hero Imagine. Something that could be called interesting about what he was wearing was the paper crown he had around his waist that he arrives wearing while complaining about missing his daughters birthday.
“ Invictus, you have to go deal with the riots just about every supervillain. The shadow mafia has already made moves to acquire their leader’s body. I have my doubts they will accept a no.” Imagine said with a worried look.
“ Some will look at this as a loss but I think it was an unbelievable victory like it or not we have shown that even the highest level of the shadow mafia is not above the law.” The woman said with a violent smile. Her name was Magmanetia.
“ No! The narrative will be shifted from even the highest level of the mafia to the highest hero is not invincible! Mark my words this won’t work as a deterrent but will instead empower the supervillains and run the mafia deeper into the ground if we are already struggling to determine who and where the mafia is then I fear how it will look soon, it’s true you weren’t exactly tricked but if you hadn’t played into his question then I cannot imagine you would have been wounded like that!” The man with glasses said.
Invictus didn’t say anything and did indeed fly off to face the rampaging supervillains. They were always easier than politicians to him.
Sliver was a speedster and had already run away. The woman simply looked on as her shift was over so she intended to go home riots be Damm she never cared for justice just like the excuse for violence. Imagine however following the body of World got in the back of an ambulance which drove to the nearest hospital where he got out before entering the building than making his way over he saw a black limo which he approached before opening the door and stepping inside.
He looked up to see an infamous villain.
“ Blur, it’s a pleasure to see you again.” Said Imagine.
How would anyone explain Blur in a way that wasn’t Blurry, he looked different to anyone who laid their eyes on him except that his face was like an unfinished portrait of a man and that 90% of those who saw him said he was ‘male’ in appearance however this was something that Blur himself found strange only taking male titles such as sir because of this, his original appearance before his power was quite a curiosity to even himself. However, Blur knew that he had woken out and dressed in a fine black suit and also that he makes special moves to prevent the colour purple being associated with him as he does not want to draw himself towards the mafia which as everyone knows wears purple suits like their leader.
“ Ah, sorry that's the former leader ‘World’. Please remember this narrator ok.”
“ What?” Asked Imagine, however, Blur simply dismissive of his question instead began to play with a walking cane that was placed on the seat next to him before saying.
“ My, my oh my Imagine you are a truly wonderful thing that I own. I guess that the body is now in my possession? Correct yes?” Blur other then an appearance change didn’t have any abilities that Imagine knew of however even if he was insulted Imagine wouldn’t be likely to react negatively because it remained powers that he wasn’t aware of not powers that he knew Blur didn’t have.
“ That’s good to know.”
“ Correct.”
The both of them spoke at the same time however they were speaking of different things but to Imagine it was like Blur had total confidence in the knowledge that World would be delivered making Imagine question if everything had gone as Blur intended.
“ Everything went as I intended, you are correct in thinking such Imagine.”
Little did Imagine know that Blur could break the fourth wall and did so almost every time he spoke and used this power to know what his opponent was thinking or planning. However, he could also use this to influence his enemies as now Imagine had no doubt that Blur knew exactly what would happen.
“ Then I am still getting what I want out of this yes?” Asked Imagine a bit nervous this time but his face and body told a different story one of confidence in fact Imagine was putting up a front as he was worried that Blur would notice that he was nervous which Blur did notice as he too can read the words in this chapter.
However, this time Blur decided to play along and took out a briefcase. Imagine taking the briefcase and opening it before smiling.
Inside was key to everything. “ Did you hear? A red moon will be rising soon, be careful with that.” Said Blur.
“ Of course. But what did you want his corpse for anyway?”
“ Oh, it’s necessary for the plot. But don’t worry your little head as the main character will be created in the next chapter. I am quite proud of what my son will achieve. More importantly, you intend to give the Red stone to your daughter right?”
“ You're actually insane if you think I will ever let my daughter touch something you gave me but yes I do intend to find a Red Stone for her.”
“ No Insane is a completely different character than me.”
“ Powers make the world go round, I can fully understand the desire to see your child grow while being crippled by fear about the consequences. Where you have to ask yourself will the system even let her succeed? I think seeking ways of granting offspring superhuman power might be a fatherly action and I would even call it virtuous I, my self have acquired the corpse of World to see my son grow.”
“ You have a son?”
“ Correct, I do and I love him very much.”