Beyond Invincible

The power to create anything by manipulating matter—such a terrifying ability rested at the tip of her fingertips. It was the power to move atoms, to reshape the very fabric of reality itself. Yet, this limitless potential was bound by the morals of its vessel: Samantha Eve Wilkins. Her humanity acted as a leash, keeping the raw, unfiltered power in check. But what would happen if that humanity were stripped away, leaving only the cold, unstoppable force behind?

The Mauler glared at the statue of his clone, then turned his furious gaze toward Eve. His voice was a growl, low and seething. "You'll pay for this, you damn tincan!" Without another word, he hurled himself through the building's wall, plummeting ten floors to the ground below.

Machine Head extended a hand toward Eve, his tone calm but commanding. "If you would."

Eve's energy flared, a brilliant light engulfing the room. In an instant, the damage was undone—walls repaired, debris vanished, everything restored to pristine condition. Machine Head glanced back at Isotope. "Well, would you look at that? We've got ourselves our own piece of art. Fucking fantastic." He clapped slowly, his eyes fixed on the new gold statue standing before him. "Now that's what I call a masterpiece."

Isotope remained silent, his usual unreadable expression betraying a sliver of unease. Machine Head, however, was positively thrilled. He leaned forward in his chair, chuckling lowly. "You see that, Isotope? That right there is power. The kind you don't negotiate with—you wield it."

Eve's body was still, hovering slightly above the floor, her eyes devoid of emotion. The glow around her hands pulsed faintly, but there was no reaction to Machine Head's words.

The Mauler twin had fled. Smart. That meant he'd be back with a bigger plan—or more muscle. Machine Head wasn't worried, though. He had everything he needed right here.

"Now, sweetheart," he said smoothly, standing up and adjusting his tie. "Let's get to work."

Eve's fingers twitched. The pink energy flickered.

And then, for the first time since her transformation, she spoke.

"…What do you need me to do?"

Her voice was hollow. Emotionless.

Machine Head grinned. Perfect.

Cecil slammed his fist onto the console, his eyes locked on the drone's footage. "For fuck's sake!" he barked, his voice cracking under the strain. "First, the Guardians of the Globe get wiped out by some alien conqueror. Then, we get invaded by more alien bastards, and we lose our top fighters—temporarily, thank God. And now? Now the brat with the power to crap out nukes gets kidnapped and turned against us?!"

His gaze flicked to another monitor. The monster—no, the kid—was crying. Full-on bawling, like a toddler with a skinned knee. It even had its thumb stuck in its mouth, for crying out loud. Cecil's eye twitched as he felt the beginnings of a headache—or maybe an aneurism—creeping up on him. "This is it," he muttered, rubbing his temples. "This is how I go. Not in battle, not in some grand sacrifice, but because a the universe starts throwing non-stopping bulshit my way."

He sighed, leaning back in his chair. "Someone get me a drink. And maybe a therapist. Actually, scratch that—just make it a double."

Donald cleared his throat. "Sir, with all due respect, you already have a drink."

Cecil blinked, glancing down at the whiskey glass in his hand. Oh. Right. He frowned, swirling the amber liquid before knocking it back in one go. "Then get me another," he muttered, slamming the empty glass on the desk.

Donald hesitated. "Sir, about Eve—"

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Cecil cut in, rubbing his temples. "She's got the power to rewrite reality, and now she's playing house with a fucking mob boss. Trust me, I know how bad this is."

Donald nodded, but his expression was grim. "Then… what's the plan?"

Cecil exhaled sharply through his nose. "Same as always." He leaned forward, his eyes cold and calculating. "We play the hand we're dealt, and when the time comes—we pray we're holding the bigger gun."

Out of options—and with the remaining ones costing way more than he was willing to pay—Cecil settled on the least terrible idea he had. "Fuck it," he muttered, running a hand through his hair. "Let's wait it out." He shot Donald a sharp look before the man could even open his mouth. "Not like *that*, and you know what I mean. Keep an eye on those two, prep some countermeasures, and pray to God—or the devil, I don't care anymore—that they don't do anything stupid. It's too risky to attack right now. One wrong move, and we could lose the new Guardians. It's barely been a few weeks since we put the team together. Let's not get hasty."

But even as the words left his mouth, he could feel the sweat dripping down his back. How could he not? They were already cooking up a nuclear bomb while he sat there, trying to keep it together. His fingers drummed nervously on the console. "Just… keep monitoring them. And someone get me another coffee. Strong enough to wake the dead." He sighed, muttering under his breath, "Because if this goes south, we might all be joining them." His mind conjured the images of the previous guardians.

Flashes of his old team. Their bodies strewn across the conference room floor like discarded puppets. Blood splattered against the walls, the look of betrayal frozen on their faces. He had seen some shit in his time, but that—that was something he'd never scrub from his memory.

Cecil clenched his jaw and forced himself back to the present. He couldn't afford to dwell. Not now. Not when this situation was spiraling just as fast. Eve wasn't Omni-Man, but she was damn close in terms of raw destructive potential. And unlike Nolan, she didn't need fists to tear the world apart.

Donald walked back into the room, holding a steaming cup of coffee. He handed it over, and Cecil took it without so much as a glance, downing a burning sip like it was water. The sharp taste grounded him, if only for a moment. 

"We need contingencies," Cecil said at last, slamming the cup down with a loud *clink*. "Worst-case scenario—if she loses control—we need a way to put her down without wiping out half the damn planet in the process."

Donald shifted uncomfortably, his voice cautious. "If she loses control?"

Cecil's fingers tightened around the mug, his knuckles turning white. "When," he corrected sharply. His eyes flicked to the monitor again, where the collar around her neck gleamed ominously. "That thing? It's not exactly a symbol of stability. If anything, it's a ticking time bomb. One that can't be allowed to detonate."

Donald opened his mouth to argue but thought better of it. Instead, he just nodded, his expression grim. "Alright. Contingencies it is. But… you really think it'll come to that?"

Cecil didn't answer right away. He just stared at the screen, his jaw clenched. "Hope for the best," he said finally. "But plan for the worst. That's the only way we survive this mess."

Rex slumped against a wall, his chest heaving as he tried to catch his breath. His eyes darted around, scanning the area. "So, where the hell is Eve? Or Invincible? Heck, I'd even take Omni-man right about now. Weren't you guys supposed to be some kind of dream team?" He let out a weak chuckle, though it quickly turned into a cough. "Guess I shouldn't be surprised. Looks like I'm the one saving your butts again. Some team, huh?" He smirked, but the pain in his ribs made it hard to keep bothering them.

Kate shot him a deadpan look as one of her clones pressed a cloth to his bleeding side. "Yeah, Rex, you're real heroic, getting your ass handed to you during your brave rescue."

Rex winced but didn't drop the smirk. "Hey, strategy. I take the heat, you guys finish the job. Classic teamwork."

Monster Girl rolled her eyes, her transformed form still towering over him. "Yeah? Well, next time, try a strategy that doesn't involve you nearly dying." She crossed her arms, then glanced toward Robot. "How bad is it?"

Robot's visor flickered as he scanned Rex. "Multiple fractured ribs, internal bleeding, and a minor concussion. He'll live, assuming he stops running his mouth long enough to rest."

Rex scoffed, waving a shaky hand. "Pfft. 'Rest'? That's quitter talk." He tried to sit up straighter but immediately regretted it as pain shot through his ribs. "Okay, maybe… a short break."

Kate sighed, shaking her head. "You're impossible."

Robot ignored the banter, his visor flickering again. "We still have a problem. Eve's location remains unknown, and Invincible and Omni-Man have yet to return from their last engagement."

Monster Girl frowned. "So what, we're flying blind here?"

"Not entirely." Robot tilted his head just slightly, his voice calm but laced with caution. "Cecil's watching. That means we need to tread carefully—unless you want him stepping in and making decisions for us." His tone was even, but the implication was clear—if Cecil thought things were spiraling out of control, he wouldn't hesitate to pull the plug in his own way. "I've been working on a way to establish contact with the dimension where Omni-Man and Invincible are trapped. But there's one problem."

Kate arched a brow. "Just one? Lucky us."

Robot didn't acknowledge the sarcasm. "I need Eve for it to work. Her powers could stabilize the connection, but without her, the energy fluctuation is too unpredictable. If we attempt it now, we could tear a hole in space-time—or worse, lose them permanently."

Monster Girl scowled. "So we're stuck waiting. Again." She cracked her knuckles, her frustration evident. "I hate waiting."

Rex groaned, shifting slightly. "Yeah, well, I hate getting my ribs broken, but here we are. Look, can't we just track Eve down first? She's gotta be somewhere, right?"

Kate threw him a look. "We?"

The robot didn't even acknowledge her comment. "I'm not sure if—" He suddenly stopped mid-sentence, his head snapping sharply to the side. "I'm picking up Atom Eve on my scanner. She's… she's generating an unprecedented amount of energy right now."

Monster Girl's expression darkened. "Define 'unprecedented.'"

Robot hesitated for just a fraction of a second—enough for Kate to notice.

"Robot?" she pressed, her arms crossing.

He voiced out flatly. "If this continues, she may reach critical mass. I cannot determine if she's in control of—"

A thunderous shockwave rippled through the air, sending dust and debris skittering across the pavement. The Guardians barely had time to react before the skyline in the distance lit up in a vivid, unnatural pink.

Rex's smirk vanished. "Okay. That definitely ain't normal."

Kate's clones vanished in an instant, her real body tensing. "We need to go. Now."

Robot was already calculating. "I'll find the coordinates. Be prepared for anything."

Monster Girl clenched her fists, her muscles coiling as she stared forward. "If she needs our help, we have to hurry."

Robot's visor flickered as he processed data at lightning speed. "Her energy output is increasing exponentially. If we don't intervene soon, the consequences could be… catastrophic."

Rex let out a low whistle. "Great. So either we get there in time, or we get front-row seats to the apocalypse. No pressure."

Kate ignored him, already making more clones. "Then what are we waiting for?"

Robot nodded. "Coordinates locked. Moving now."

The team didn't waste another second. As they took off toward the source of the explosion, a grim silence settled over them.

Machine Head slammed his hand on the control, glaring at Eve with a mix of frustration and disbelief. "What the hell? Those idiots can't even build something that works right!" His eyes darted between the unstable nuclear bomb and Eve, who was visibly struggling to maintain control. His mind raced, weighing his options. "Gains... gotta think about the gains..."

A sudden crackle of pink lightning sliced through the air, narrowly missing him and reducing his prized Italian-imported table to a pile of sand. He flinched, then gritted his teeth. That was it—no more hesitating.

"Tactical retreat!" he barked sharply. "Isotope, grab the damn bomb! We're getting the hell out of here!"

Isotope hesitated for only a moment before placing a hand on the bomb, his form shimmering with energy. "This is insane," he muttered under his breath.

Machine Head didn't bother responding. His golden faceplate reflected the chaos before him—Eve, her body trembling, barely holding back the storm of power raging inside her. The air around her warped, the very fabric of reality bending under the weight of her uncontrolled abilities.

Eve's teeth clenched as another crackle of pink lightning arced through the room, striking the ceiling and turning a chunk of it into liquid metal. She gasped, forcing herself to regain control, but the pressure inside her kept building. Too much. It's too much.

Isotope finally activated his ability, vanishing with the bomb in a flash of light. Machine Head took a step back, his circuits whirring as he calculated the odds of survival.

Zero.

"Welp," he muttered. "Time to cut my losses." Isotope teleported next to him and placed a hand in his back.

And in the next instant, he was gone.

Rex stumbled and collapsed just outside the building, gasping for air as a fit of coughing wracked his body. "Damn... that hurt more than I thought," he muttered, clutching his side.

Kate dropped to her knees beside him, her voice firm but laced with concern. "Dude, you're in no shape to keep going. You've had your moment of glory—now it's time to bail and get yourself patched up."

Monster Girl nodded in agreement, crossing her arms as she looked down at him. "You're not even a Guardian of the Globe. Let the professionals handle this. You've done enough."

Before she could say more, a deafening crash interrupted them. A golden statue burst through one of the walls, slamming into Monster Girl with terrifying force. The impact drove her through the pavement, leaving her pinned and bleeding heavily from her chest.

Kate's breath caught in her throat. "Amanda!" She rushed forward, only for another ripple of pink energy to send shockwaves through the area, forcing her to shield her eyes.

Robot's voice crackled through their earpieces. "Eve is destabilizing. If we don't intervene now, she could—" A burst of static cut him off, and Kate cursed under her breath.

Rex, still wheezing, forced himself up. "What the hell was that? Did Eve just throw a damn statue at us?!"

Monster Girl groaned, her body already shifting back to her human form as she fought to stay conscious. Her eyes locked onto the statue's face, and a flicker of recognition crossed her pained expression. "This guy... I know him..." she muttered weakly.

Kate's clones scrambled to lift the statue off Amanda, but as she got a closer look, her blood turned to ice. The golden statue wasn't just debris—it was moving. Twisting. Changing.

It was The Mauler.

Or what was left of him. His body, now solid gold, writhed in grotesque, unnatural ways. The remnants of his transformation struggled to function, his half-melted face twisting toward them. His jaw moved in a silent, agonized scream, frozen in a horrifying expression of pain and rage.

Rex stared, his voice trembling slightly. "Okay. That? That's straight-up nightmare fuel."

Robot hovered nearby, his voice was calm but carried an edge of urgency. "Something's gone terribly wrong. Atom Eve has never used her powers like this—directly altering the structure of another living being. This... this isn't in her data base."

Cecil's voice crackled through their earpieces. "You're way out of your league here. Get out of there—now. Let the professionals handle this mess."

Kate grit her teeth, resisting the urge to snap back at Cecil. "And who exactly are the professionals here? Because last I checked, we're the ones on the ground dealing with this." She gestured toward the writhing golden form of the Mauler, her clones still struggling to move the monstrous statue. "Unless you've got some magic button that turns this back into a regular, non-horrifying criminal, we don't have time to sit this one out."

Cecil's sigh came through the comms. "Just keep your damn distance. We're sending reinforcements."

Before anyone could respond, a violent shockwave tore through the air. The ground trembled as a crackling pink vortex expanded in the distance, swallowing buildings and debris in its wake. At its center, barely visible through the storm of energy, was her.

Atom Eve hovered in the sky, her body glowing with an overwhelming pink radiance. But something was wrong.

Her posture was stiff, unnatural—her head tilted slightly, as if she were listening to something none of them could hear. Strands of her hair floated weightlessly around her face, her normally bright green eyes now an eerie, unfocused pink. The energy around her flared wildly, reshaping the world around her without restraint. buildings twisted into spirals of glass and gold, flickering between stability and complete molecular breakdown.

Kate felt a chill crawl down her spine. "Eve…?" she called out hesitantly.

The response was immediate.

Eve's head snapped toward them with an unnatural sharpness. For a brief moment, Kate swore she saw something—someone—else looking back through Eve's eyes. A presence, vast and unknowable.

Then, in the blink of an eye, Eve raised her hand.

The air around them exploded.

Cecil didn't waste a second. In one swift motion, he grabbed Amanda and one of Kate's clones. The air around them crackled with energy as he activated his teleportation device. In an instant, they vanished from the storm of acid and fire, reappearing in the secure confines of the Pentagon.

Kate gasped, stumbling slightly as the sudden teleportation disoriented her. Amanda collapsed beside her, barely conscious, blood seeping from the wound on her chest.

Cecil didn't even give them a second to breathe. "Get medical in here, now!" he barked, his voice echoing through the command center.

The room sprang into action. Medics rushed forward, quickly assessing Amanda's condition while a technician helped steady Kate. She shook them off, her hands clenched into fists. "What the hell was that, Cecil?! You just left them!"

Cecil's glare was sharp enough to cut steel. "I saved you. You think I was gonna sit around and watch you get turned into another twisted corpse?"

Kate opened her mouth to argue but hesitated. The image of the Mauler—his twisted, writhing golden form—flashed through her mind.

She swallowed hard. "...We have to go back."

Cecil ran a hand down his face. "We will—but not without a damn plan. Eve's not in control anymore, and if we don't handle this right, we'll lose everyone out there."

Kate's fists trembled, but she said nothing. Because as much as she hated to admit it…

He was right.

They fought back the urge to gag as the drone feed revealed the horrifying aftermath. What was left of Kate's clones was a grotesque patchwork of melted flesh, charred skin, and random patches of metal fused into their bodies. The damage wasn't just surface-level—even their insides had been twisted and altered, a nightmarish blend of organic and inorganic matter.

Kate turned away, swallowing hard against the lump rising in her throat. Her voice was barely above a whisper. "Did Rex... is he...?"

Cecil didn't look away. His eyes remained locked on the camera feed, his expression unreadable but his focus razor-sharp. The screen showed Robot shielding Rex, its once-mechanical body now a horrifying mesh of organic tissue, blood, and exposed organs. Cecil's voice was low, almost disbelieving. "She can create life?"

He didn't miss the way Robot was coughing—a wet, gurgling sound that shouldn't have been possible. Robots weren't supposed to cough. They weren't supposed to have lungs. They weren't supposed to bleed. And yet a machine turned into something disturbingly alive.

Kate's breath hitched. "No… no, that's not creating life. That's—" She couldn't even finish.

The screen flickered as the drone zoomed in, capturing the twisted abomination that had once been Robot. Flesh pulsed where steel should have been. A single, bloodshot eye stared out from the mess of veins and circuitry, blinking unnaturally.

Cecil's grip tightened on the console. "I don't know what the hell Eve just did, but this is way beyond anything we've seen before." His jaw clenched as the implications sank in.

Kate forced herself to watch as Robot—or what was left of him—lifted a trembling hand, reaching toward Rex, who lay motionless beneath him. The gurgling cough came again, and through the distorted voice modulator, one broken, barely-human word escaped.

"Kill… me."

Kate turned away, pressing a hand to her mouth.

Cecil exhaled slowly. "Shit."

 (Line break)

Rex trembled, frozen in place as a cold drop of something—water? Blood?—dripped onto his face. His eyes dilated, his breath coming in shallow gasps as sweat poured down his forehead. He didn't dare move. Didn't dare make a sound. The monstrous figure hovering above him was too close, too terrifying.

That... thing wasn't Eve. It couldn't be. The girl he'd known for years—kind, determined, and fiercely protective—would never do something like this. This was something else. Something monstrous. Something wrong.

His mind stopped, his body refused to obey. Fear had him locked in place, his instincts screaming at him to stay hidden, to not draw its attention. Whatever had replaced Eve, it wasn't human anymore.

A grotesque squelching sound filled the air as the twisted remains of Robot shuddered, its body struggling to maintain its warped existence. The wet, gurgling breath sent shivers down Rex's spine. He barely managed to suppress a whimper.

Then, the creature—no, Robot—moved. Its trembling, half-fleshed hand reached toward him, fingers twitching as though unsure whether they were metal or muscle. Its single, swollen eye locked onto him, and for just a moment, Rex saw something disturbingly familiar in that gaze.

It was fear.

Not his own—Robot's.

The realization hit him like a punch to the gut. Robot wasn't the threat. He was just another victim. They all were.

A violent shudder ran through the grotesque mass of fused metal and tissue, and a choked, agonized sound rasped from deep within.

"H-h-h..." The voice box stuttered, barely functioning. Then, the word came through, unmistakable even in its broken, inhuman tone.

"H-h-help... Kill... m-me…"

Rex's stomach twisted, but finally, finally, his body obeyed. His arm moved, fingers barely brushing against Robot's quivering hand.

Then, a shadow loomed over them both.

And in the glow of burning pink light, Rex knew—Eve had noticed him.

But a hand on his shoulder jolted him back to reality, snapping him out of the nightmare. In the blink of an eye, the chaos around him vanished, replaced by the Pentagon. Rex blinked, disoriented, his heart still sprinting from the horrors he'd just witnessed.

Cecil stood over him, his usual gruff demeanor softened by a flicker of concern. "Goddamn it, kid..." he muttered, shaking his head. He turned sharply, barking orders to someone nearby. "Get medical over here, now!"

Rex barely registered the command. His mind was still stuck in that burning wreckage, trapped beneath the weight of something that shouldn't exist. His breath hitched, and his trembling hands curled into fists, grasping something that wasn't the warped, bleeding thing that used to be Robot.

Kate's voice cut through the haze, sharp and urgent. "Rex! Hey—look at me."

He turned, his vision swimming until her face came into focus. She looked rattled—her usual confidence cracked at the edges—but she was here. Real. Not some nightmarish fusion of flesh and metal.

Rex swallowed hard, nodding once. "I'm... I'm good." The words felt like a lie the second they left his mouth, but saying them out loud helped him believe them.

Cecil grunted. "Yeah, sure you are." His arms crossed, eyes scanning Rex with a mix of frustration and understanding. "You saw it up close, didn't you?"

Rex hesitated, then slowly nodded. His voice came out hoarse. "That wasn't Eve, Cecil. It wasn't."

Cecil's jaw tightened. "No. It wasn't." He exhaled sharply, rubbing his temples. "And that's exactly why we have a problem."