(Author note: My exam is basically in some hours from now - I'm kinda stressed, so decided to do something fun to lighten up. Hence this chapter.
Just know - this is me taking some creative liberties with some comic elements from Invincible, and taking some things to their logical conclusion based on the fact Thragg is who he is.
So, bear with me for now, just read till the end of the chapter.
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Thragg sat motionless beside Samantha's hospital bed, his massive frame making the visitor's chair seem like a child's toy.
The steady beep of medical equipment provided the only sound in the private room, which had been cleared of all other personnel at his insistence.
Outside, reporters clamored for statements, doctors waited for permission to examine their patient, and government officials sought debriefings on the battle that had changed Japan forever.
All of them could wait.
The Emperor of Viltrum would not be rushed.
Through the window, Thragg could see the Tokyo skyline, partially obscured by the setting sun.
The battle damage from his confrontation with All For One was visible even from this distance - collapsed buildings, emergency vehicles with flashing lights, reconstruction crews already beginning their work.
His gaze returned to Samantha's sleeping form. Her breathing was steady, her vital signs strong.
The "wound" she had inflicted upon herself was healing perfectly, just as planned.
The doctors believed she would make a full recovery, though they couldn't understand how she had survived what should have been a fatal injury.
Thragg allowed himself a moment of satisfaction as he reviewed their plan's execution.
All For One's death had been public, spectacular, witnessed by millions through the news broadcasts.
The villain had revealed himself as holding Samantha - War - under mind control, forcing her to commit crimes while her detective father remained unaware.
The sympathy this generated was immeasurable. Social media was flooded with support for the Grayson family.
Hashtags like #PrayForSamantha and #GraysonStrong were trending worldwide.
More importantly, the public had seen Thragg in action - his power, his precision, his willingness to risk himself for others.
The contrast between All Might's defeat and Thragg's victory could not have been starker.
"One month," Thragg murmured to himself, his deep voice barely audible. "Perhaps less."
That was all it would take now. The foundation had been laid perfectly.
Japan's hero system was in shambles - All Might revealed as weakened, Endeavor exposed as an abuser, the public's faith shaken to its core.
Into this vacuum would step Thragg, not as conqueror but as savior.
Soon, he would reveal his true nature. The Emperor of Viltrum would extend his dominion to this reality, beginning with this primitive world of quirk-users.
Their genetic potential was considerable, their societal structures already primed for authority. They would adapt quickly to Viltrumite rule.
And after this world, others would follow. The multiverse would-
The floor beneath Thragg's feet suddenly seemed to vanish.
A sensation of falling overcame him as blue light enveloped his body, pulling him downward into what appeared to be a tunnel of darkness shot through with blue luminescence.
His powers activated instantly, but to no effect - his flight abilities couldn't counter whatever force had seized him.
His enhanced senses detected no normal presence, no seen enemy to engage. This was something beyond normal.
"At last, I've found you!" a female voice echoed through the tunnel. "You were so difficult to locate when you disappeared from your universe."
Thragg's eyes narrowed, his body tensing as he continued to fall. "Identify yourself," he demanded.
"I am... well, names are such limiting constructs," the voice replied with laughter. "Let's just say I'm an admirer. A facilitator. Someone who recognizes greatness when she sees it."
The tunnel around Thragg pulsed with energy as images began to form in the blue light - scenes of battles, planets, faces he didn't recognize.
"You possess the ability to traverse realities - a gift worthy of the mighty Emperor!" the voice continued, excitement evident in its tone. "A perfect complement to my own gift of traversing time itself."
Thragg felt two slender arms wrap around him from behind, a body pressing against his back.
The sensation was distinctly feminine, yet not fully physical - as though embraced by living energy rather than flesh.
"I'm sending you to a world truly worthy of conquest," the voice whispered, now directly in his ear. "A world in need of being rebuilt in the image of such a kind and just emperor as yourself."
Images flooded Thragg's mind - a war among the stars, Viltrumites battling alongside other species' - aliens.
He saw another version of himself, scarred and battle-worn, fighting against a coalition of worlds. He saw Nolan becoming Emperor, then being killed alongside Oliver by this alternate Thragg.
"Mark Grayson rejected my gift," the voice continued, a note of petulance entering its melodious tones.
"I offered him the chance to go back in time and save his loved ones, yet he chose to remain in his doomed timeline. Can you imagine such foolishness? So I had to take matters into my own hands, to grant this world peace - and I found you, the perfect ruler."
With startling clarity, Thragg realized what he was seeing - scenes from the comic books he had read in his first life.
This was appeared to be the original Invincible universe, not an interpretation or adaptation, but the actual reality that had been fictionalized in his first life.
In an instant, Thragg regained his bearings.
With a movement too fast for most beings to track, he spun within the entity's embrace, seized what appeared to be a throat made of pure blue light, and squeezed.
"You will return me immediately," he demanded, his voice deadly calm. "I have no interest in being taken against my will to any destination."
The being made no attempt to escape his grasp.
Instead, her form became more defined - a woman of blue light with glowing white eyes and flowing hair composed of pure energy. Most disturbing was her expression - not fear, but delight.
"Oh!" she gasped, her voice somehow becoming more ecstatic as Thragg's grip tightened. "Such power! Such majesty! You're even more magnificent than I imagined!"
She pressed herself against him, her energy form molding to his body as she attempted to bring her face closer to his, lips parting as if for a kiss.
Thragg pushed her away with his free hand while maintaining his grip on her throat. "Your behavior is inappropriate and unwelcome," he stated coldly. "Return me to my location immediately."
"I can't do that," she replied, seeming to enjoy his displeasure. "Not until you fix this world I'm sending you to. You may kill me here and now, but you will still arrive at your destination and through my death be stuck."
Before Thragg could respond, the tunnel, the blue light woman, and the sensation of falling all vanished. He found himself floating in the vacuum of space, surrounded by the chaos of battle.
All around him, purple-skinned young men and women in Viltrumite white uniforms charged against a diverse collection of aliens.
Coalition forces battled against what could only be Thragg's children from this universe - hybrids born from Thraxan mothers, fighting for their father.
The sight ignited something in Thragg that he had not felt since Emperor Argall's death:
Pure rage.
His hands clenched so tightly that his own nails drew blood from his palms. His face contorted with fury, muscles tensing throughout his body.
The sheer audacity of this woman - to remove him without permission, to disrupt his carefully laid plans, to throw him into a conflict not of his choosing - was beyond tolerance.
He had no way home except through the whims of a deranged entity obsessed with him. His mission in the hero world was interrupted. His family left without explanation for his absence.
As Thragg's rage built to near-explosive levels, something remarkable happened across the battlefield. The fighting... stopped.
Not gradually, but all at once - as though every combatant had simultaneously sensed a greater threat than their immediate opponent.
Viltrumites and Coalition forces alike froze in place, their instincts screaming danger.
Allen the Alien, hovering near a damaged battleship, felt a chill run down his spine unlike anything he'd experienced in years of fighting
His senses detected a presence that made his survival instincts scream.
"What the hell?" he muttered, turning toward the source of his unease.
Across the battlefield, Atom Eve paused in her creation of a molecular shield around injured Coalition soldiers. Something had changed around them - something profound and terrifying.
"Everyone?" she called through her communicator. "Are you feeling that?"
Kregg, leading a squadron of Coalition fighters, signaled an immediate halt. "Hold position," he ordered, his normally confident voice tight with tension.
Ursaal, commanding her siblings in the assault, raised her hand to stop their advance. "Something's wrong," she warned, her senses detecting a threat that overshadowed even their current battle.
As one, they instinctively turned toward the source of their dread - a lone figure floating in space, dressed incongruously in a partially destroyed suit, his expression one of absolute rage.
The bloodlust emanating from him was palpable, like the gravity of a planet pressing down on all who perceived it.
Thragg, unaware of the effect he was having, suddenly noticed his interface activating before his eyes:
[STATUS: ERROR]
Current Location: Invincible Prime Universe
Mission Status: INTERRUPTED
Current Mission: Hero World Integration - INCOMPLETE
Time Until Return: 15 minutes
Time Dilation: 1:1 (5 minutes here = 5 minutes in Hero World)
WARNING: Unauthorized dimensional transfer detected
The information had an immediate calming effect on Thragg. This was temporary. Fifteen minutes, and he would return to his own mission.
The time dilation was equal - he would lose nothing in his primary universe.
His rage cooled into something more focused, more purposeful. If he had only fifteen minutes in this reality, he would use them efficiently.
He would've after all visited this world in the future with Angstrom's help.
Thragg surveyed the battlefield with new clarity.
The war was exactly as depicted in the comics - his counterpart's hybrid children fighting against the Coalition, while Mark Grayson battled the other Thragg inside a nearby star.
"Inefficient," he murmured, his analytical mind processing the situation. "Wasteful."
With a burst of speed that left a visible distortion in space, Thragg moved to intercept a group of hybrids pursuing a damaged Coalition ship. He appeared before them so suddenly that they nearly collided with him.
"Stand down," he commanded, his voice carrying across the vacuum through vibrations in his atoms that transmitted his words directly to their eardrums.
The hybrids - seven young Viltrumites with purple skin - stared in confusion. One, bolder than the others, moved forward.
"Father?" he asked uncertainly mentally. "But you're-"
"I am not your father," Thragg corrected. "I am from another reality. This conflict ends now."
The hybrid's confusion turned to defiance. "We don't take orders from-"
He never finished his sentence. Thragg's hand closed around his throat, not to harm but to restrain.
"You are children," Thragg stated. "Powerful, but untrained. Fighting a war you cannot win, for a father who values you only as weapons."
He released the young hybrid, who retreated, rubbing his throat.
"Spread the word to your siblings," Thragg continued. "Stand down. Withdraw to the Thraxan homeworld. What happens next will determine your future."
Without waiting for a response, Thragg turned his attention to the star where he knew his counterpart and Mark were battling.
With ease he accelerated toward the massive burning sphere.
As he approached the star's corona, Thragg adjusted his atoms, slowing their vibration to near absolute zero while maintaining their cohesion.
The technique allowed him to counteract the star's immense heat.
He penetrated the stellar surface, his body leaving a trail of temporarily cooled plasma in his wake.
Within the star's interior, he detected two figures locked in combat - Mark Grayson and this universe's Thragg, both clearly injured from prolonged exposure to the stellar environment.
With precision, Thragg extended his fingers, projecting a portion of his atoms outward into the surrounding plasma.
These atoms, still linked to his consciousness, began cooling specific points around the combatants, creating pockets of relative coolness within the star.
The effect was immediate - the temperature in their vicinity dropped dramatically, the plasma solidifying into temporary structures that disrupted the flow of energy around them.
Both fighters paused, clearly confused by the sudden change in their environment.
"What the hell?" Mark gasped, his costume nearly burned away, his skin showing signs of severe damage despite his Viltrumite durability.
The other Thragg - scarred, wearing the Battle Beast coat, his body showing evidence of prolonged combat, though clearly not too long, as they both were still clothed - turned toward the disturbance.
His eyes widened in shock as he beheld his doppelganger approaching through the stellar material.
Thragg recalled his projected atoms, reforming his fingers as he drew closer to the pair. "Pathetic," he stated, his voice carrying through the plasma.
Comic Thragg's expression shifted from shock to rage. "Who are you?" he demanded. "What trickery is this?"
"I am you," Thragg replied simply. "From another reality. A better version, clearly."
Mark stared between them, his exhausted mind struggling to process this development. "Two... Thraggs?" he managed, his voice hoarse from the stellar environment.
Thragg ignored him, focusing on his counterpart. "You are a fool," he stated coldly. "Impatient. Shortsighted. Breeding with Thraxans was a sound strategy, but you lacked the patience to wait for your children to fully mature."
"A few more years, and you would have had an army of thousands of nearly pure Viltrumites. Instead, you waste them in a premature war you cannot win."
Comic Thragg's face contorted with fury. "How dare you-"
"I dare because I am what you could have been," Thragg interrupted. "A true Emperor. Not merely strong, but wise. Not merely powerful, but purposeful."
With movement too fast for even his counterpart to track, Thragg drove his fist through Comic Thragg's chest, puncturing his heart with ease.
"This is for Oliver," Thragg stated as his counterpart gasped in shock. "Though the boy I know is not the same one you killed, it is fitting that I end a fool's life before he ruins this universe with his madness more than he already has."
Comic Thragg's eyes widened in disbelief as blood bubbled from his lips. His hands grasped weakly at Thragg's arm, but found no purchase.
"Impossible," he whispered. "I am... the strongest..."
"No," Thragg corrected, twisting his fist to ensure the wound was fatal. "You are merely the strongest in your universe. I have transcended such limitations."
He withdrew his arm, allowing his counterpart's body to drift in the stellar material, life quickly fading from his eyes.
Mark stared in shock, unable to process what he had just witnessed. "You... killed him? Just like that?"
Thragg turned his attention to Mark for the first time. "Yes. His continued existence served no purpose. His methods were inefficient, his vision limited."
"Who are you?" Mark demanded, trying to assume a defensive stance despite his injuries. "What do you want?"
"I am Thragg, Emperor of the Viltrum Empire from another reality," he stated simply. "As for what I want... I have already accomplished it. This war ends now."
With another burst of speed, Thragg seized Mark and accelerated out of the star, carrying him back to the battlefield.
The young Viltrumite was too weak to resist, his body severely damaged from the heat.
As they emerged into open space, Thragg noted with approval that the fighting had largely ceased.
Coalition forces and Viltrumite hybrids alike were maintaining distance from each other, all eyes turned toward his arrival with Mark.
"Behold," Thragg announced, his voice carrying across space to all present. "Your war is over. Thragg is dead. Mark Grayson lives."
He released Mark, who floated unsteadily, still trying to comprehend what had happened.
Allen the Alien approached cautiously, his eyes never leaving Thragg. "Mark? Are you okay? What's happening?"
"He killed Thragg," Mark replied, his voice hollow with shock. "Just... ended him. One punch."
Murmurs spread through both forces as this information circulated. The hybrids exchanged uncertain glances, clearly unsure how to proceed without their father's leadership.
Thragg surveyed the assembled forces with imperial disdain. "This conflict was unnecessary," he stated. "A waste of resources and potential. The Viltrumite Empire should elevate worlds, not merely conquer them."
His gaze settled on a particular hybrid who had moved to the front of her siblings - Ursaal, her features marking her clearly as a daughter of his counterpart.
"You," he called, gesturing for her to approach.
Ursaal hesitated, then moved forward with the caution of a warrior expecting an attack. "Yes?" she asked, her voice steady despite her obvious uncertainty.
"I recognize you as blood of my blood in this world," Thragg stated. "Daughter of Thragg, heir to his strength if not his wisdom."
He studied her with interest, "We will meet again," he continued. "When I return to this world for its evaluation."
Ursaal's brow furrowed. "Evaluation?"
"Yes," Thragg confirmed. "Though this world's Thragg was an impatient fool, his blood - our blood - is the mightiest in the universe. I expect greatness from you when I return."
He turned his attention to the wider audience. "Hear me, all of you. I will one day return to this world. If I do not see improvement of Viltrum's empire, and a more elevated and peaceful universe, I will conquer it myself. The choice is yours - evolution or subjugation."
Allen moved closer to Mark, his voice low. "What the hell is happening? Who is this guy? He appears out of nowhere and just talks about conquering us?"
"He's Thragg," Mark replied, still processing. "But not our Thragg. Something... more."
Thragg sensed his time in this reality growing short. The interface before his eyes showed less than a minute remaining. He addressed Ursaal once more.
"Remember my words, daughter of my blood. Lead your siblings with wisdom, not merely strength. Build rather than destroy. Elevate rather than conquer."
Before anyone could respond, a crimson light enveloped Thragg's form.
The last thing he saw was the assembled forces - Coalition and Viltrumite alike - staring at him with expressions ranging from fear to awe.
Then the light consumed him entirely.
When it faded, Thragg found himself exactly where he had been - seated beside Samantha's hospital bed in Tokyo.
The monitors continued their steady beeping, the sun had set perhaps fifteen minutes further than before.
He glanced at his watch. Precisely fifteen minutes had passed, just as the interface had indicated.
Samantha stirred slightly in her sleep, her brow furrowing as though troubled by dreams. Thragg observed her dispassionately, his mind already processing the implications of what had just occurred.
He had been transported against his will, interfered with another reality, and returned. The entity responsible clearly possessed significant power - perhaps comparable to his own in certain aspects.
But she clearly acknowledged his ability to kill her - as well as her need of him, wanting him to elevate worlds rather than doing it herself. This clearly spoke of limitations.
He will not be caught off guard again - he will make sure this woman had no access to his people either, soon enough.
More concerning though still was the apparent obsession this being had developed toward him. Her behavior suggested instability, unpredictability. A potential threat to his plans.
Yet there was opportunity as well.
Access to the multiverse beyond what his own abilities currently allowed could accelerate his conquest immeasurably - especially since it appeared this being had access to timelines as well, as not only alternate universes.
If he could harness or control this entity's power...
Thragg's thoughts were interrupted by a soft knock at the door. Amanda entered quietly, her expression concerned.
"Any change?" she asked, moving to stand beside him.
"No," Thragg replied simply. "She continues to recover as expected."
Amanda studied his face carefully, seeing his ruffled clothes. "You look... different. Did something happen while I was gone?"
Thragg considered telling her about his experience, then decided against it - not yet. He'll do so perhaps later, after analysing all that happened in a calmer state.
"Nothing of you need to currently be concerned of." he stated. "Merely contemplating our next steps."
Amanda seemed unconvinced but didn't press the issue. She placed a hand on his shoulder.
"The media is going crazy out there," she said. "They're calling you Japan's new Symbol of Peace. The government wants to give you some kind of special medal."
Thragg nodded slightly. "As anticipated. Public sentiment is shifting precisely as we projected."
"It's more than that," Amanda continued. "They're talking about creating a new position - something above the normal hero ranking system. Just for you."
A trace of satisfaction crossed Thragg's features. "Perfect. The transition accelerates."
As Amanda continued updating him on developments outside, Thragg's mind returned briefly to the other reality - to the war he had ended, the counterpart he had killed, the daughter of his blood he had addressed.
He would return there someday, as he had promised. But first, this world would fall under his rule. Then the next, and the next after that.
The multiverse was vast, but time was on his side.
He was Thragg, Emperor of Viltrum.
And now, apparently, he had caught the eye of something beyond even his current knowledge.
An inconvenience, perhaps. But also an opportunity.
Either way, his path remained clear: conquest, elevation, order.
The universe - all universes - would bend to his will.
It was all simply a matter of time.
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(Author note: Well, that's done! So, the blue entity in the comics that just whisked Mark, and took him back in time, to apparently fix the timeline.
The being - I personally found the entity give off quite a feminine feel, but nothing is confirmed in the comic - was clearly emotionally invested in Mark saving the world, saving the people who died in the past, creating a better timeline, etc.
So, I thought, hey, if this thing has access to time, it also likely has access to universal travel, and if it found Thragg, I think this is how it would be like.
Since its clearly obsessed, and insane, in a way that it is unreasonable with punishing Mark, by stealing 5 years of his life - wherin Eve tried to move on with another guy, some alien named Kubian, still the worst thing in the comic - so I decided to do this.
I wanted invincible world to have more of a presence again.
Well, I hope you guys liked the chapter, do tell me how you found it,
And I hope to see you all later,
Bye!)