The new Guardians of the Globe had just assembled. Robot's first briefing to the team had gone much worse than he had expected.
Most of the team had chosen to sulk and storm out of the room. Their behaviour was childish and unprofessional. Alex began to wonder whether he'd made the right decision in joining.
The Guardians were earth's last line of defence. He couldn't understand how the new members could disregard Robot's instructions so carelessly.
He expected that kind of behaviour from Rex-Splode. It was disheartening to see Black Samson and Atom-Eve, individuals he respected, display that same recklessness.
"I can't do training three times a day." Monster Girl looked up from the sheet Robot had given her.
Robot's synthesised voice had a frustrated quality to it, "I'm sorry. I'm on a tight schedule to get this team operational."
"Every time I transform I get younger. It's part of the curse that gives me my powers. Unless you want to be changing my diapers, three times a day is too much."
The information was a relevation for Robot. The android immediately realised his error in not sufficiently investigating the backgrounds of the new Guardians.
"I didn't-yes, of course, I'm sorry." Robot apologised.
Monster Girl hopped off her seat and departed. The last two members of the Guardians remained.
Robot turned to Omega. He sighed, "This was not the outcome I expected."
Alex placed his hand on Robot's shoulder. The android was cold to the touch, "They'll come around."
Robot's processors hummed. The android was silent for a few moments, "Yes. You are right. They will come to accept their new responsibilities."
"I would like to request your assistance on a project. I believe that your powers could be of critical importance."
Alex had wondered when the question would come. He had felt for a long time that Robot was hiding something. Perhaps today he would find out the android's secret.
"Of course. I'll help however I can." He replied.
Robot's voice sounded joyful, "I am delighted by your enthusiasm. Please, follow me."
The android led Alex to a floating vehicle. Under Robot's precise operation, the gravity-defying craft rose smoothly into the air.
The craft's motors whined softly. The roof above opened up, just large enough for the vehicle to pass through. Alex beat his wings and followed swiftly after.
They flew in silence. After nearly an hour, they arrived at an ordinary business district. Alex remained a few feet behind the flying vehicle.
Robot piloted the craft directly torwards a brick wall. The android said calmly, "I must warn you that what you shall see may be upsetting."
The brick wall shimmered. The craft passed through. The hologram was so realistic that Alex hadn't even realised it was there.
Robot controlled the vehicle to land. The motors powered down. The chrome hero stepped into an elevator shaft. Alex folded his wings behind him. The elevator just about fit the both of them. It didn't seem to have been designed to be used by two people.
The elevator shaft continued to descend for nearly a minute. Alex estimated that they were several hundred feet beneath the earth.
The doors opened. A huge cylindrical structured occupied the centre of the room. His attention was immediately drawn to it.
The structure was a tank. A deformed human body was suspended in thick green liquid. More than a dozen pieces of complex machinery pumped and whirred. They connected to different parts of the human's body.
The intricate life support system maintained the person's life. Through his powers, Alex could feel a flickering vital signature from the deformed body. If the life support system was ever disconnected, he believed that the being inside would die within a minute.
"This is me." Robot said. Or at least, the chrome droid said.
The deformed figure in the tank waved weakly. A few strands of hair drifted like sea-grass in the viscous fluid. The human's skull was much too large and much too wide. His limbs varied chaotically in length and shape.
"My name is Rudy. The Robot you are familiar with is a droid I control remotely."
Alex stepped closer to the tank. His breath fogged up against the thick glass. He wasn't disgusted or repulsed by Robot's true appearance. He felt both compassion and a scientific urge to learn more.
"Your haemoglobin is malformed. Your blood can't bind to oxygen. You're bathing your tissues directly in oxygenated fluid to stay alive." Alex stated.
"Your neuronal tissue is as dense as muscle. The synapses in your brain are firing off like you've swallowed a bottle of amphetamines." He remarked.
Robot, or Rudy as he was really called, had figured out how to keep his deformed body alive. The technology he used to do so was staggeringly complex.
As his powers developed, Alex's thirst for understanding had grown enormously. Rudy's body was a puzzle calling out for him to solve.
"You are correct on both accounts." The android replied.
Alex blinked. He pulled off his mask and looked into Rudy's eyes. The pupils were not uniform and tumorous growths kept one eye almost permanently shut.
He suddenly understood what Rudy aimed to do.
"You want me to fix you."
From the day he was born, Rudy had only ever known the constant hum of the machines that kept him alive. Every hour was a race to repair his collapsing body. The drones were his only way of interacting with a world behind his tank.
His life was like a form of torture. As the years passed and his body required more and more mechanical intervention to remain alive, he had grown increasingly desperate.
For some time he had made plans to assist a pair of supervallins, the Mauler Twins, in breaking out of prison. The act went against his moral code completely. But he felt that he had no choice.
Their expertise in tissue growth was far beyond his own. Without them he would die alone in a mechanical tomb of his own creation.
"I have studied your powers. I cannot decipher the mechanism behind their workings.
You command your body to change and it listens. I do not know how.
Forgive me, I have tested your DNA as well. You've edited your genetic code itself. It's-it's incredible." Robot remarked.
One of the countless monitors in the underground chamber began to beep. The tip of a needle stabbed into Rudy's spine. A sedative was injected and the racing heart rate displayed on the monitor began to slow.
"I've created the template for a new body. I've rewritten every flawed piece of my genome. The new body would be healthy. I'd be able to feel the sun on my skin." The android said.
Alex watched a deep sadness creep into Rudy's deformed eyes.
"But I lack the knowledge on tissue growth. I had planned to assist a pair of criminals in breaking out from a GDA prison. I do not wish to hide this from you. Without assistance, my plans remain useless sets of numbers."
The final piece of the puzzle dawned on Alex, "You want me to use my powers to create your new body."
Rudy's irreguarly shaped lips curved into what almost resembled a smile. The android's voice filled with a profound longing, "Yes. I have analysed your powers. You are only able to freely alter your own cells. The bodies of other organisms inherently reject you."
"I believe that you have used your powers before to heal a woman named Anna. I believe that she was dead when you found her. I believe that you brought her back.
You cannot make cells other than your own defy their programming. Your cells have a plasticity that is staggering.
I have extracted tissue samples from across my body. Your powers can stimulate stem-cell production. You can build me the body I was supposed to have. The body I dream about whilst I sleep."
Rudy stared out from his tank, "Will you do it?"
Alex replied immediately, "Of course. You're my friend."
A salty tear squeezed its way out from Rudy's half-shut eye, "Thank you."
The floor trembled and an operating table rose from the ground. Rudy's body was reliant entirely on life support systems to stay alive. His condition could not restrict his incredible intelligence.
There were hundreds of petri dishes on the operating table. They were positioned in a shape that resembled the human form. The biological awareness brought about by Alex's powers swept across the table. The cells in the petri dishes formed the complete makeup for a person.
Alex closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He concentrated his will on a cluster of cells. The cells began to tremble. Some died the instant his powers acted upon them. A few grew rapidly and uncontrollably. They became cancerous. He had no choice but to kill of these cells as wells.
It wasn't until an hour later that Alex reopened his eyes. He exhaled a tense breath. Rudy's eyes hadn't left him for even a moment.
"It can be done." Alex declared.
In the petri-dish, a pea sized fragment of spongy flesh was suspended in green nutrient fluid. After countless failures, one cell accepted the intention willed upon it by Alex. The cell then began to divide and proliferate. At a growth rate accelerated by hundreds of times, the marrow cells grew numerous enough until they could be observed by the naked eye.
The chrome android walked over to the table and lifted up the petri-dish. The android turned and carried it over to its originator. Rudy jerked his deformed body forwards until his face pressed against the edge of the tank. He stared at the small piece of flesh with an expression of pure fanaticsm.
"How-how long will you require?" The emotions felt by Rudy's true body interfaced with the android's vocal processing unit. His voice came out shaky and filled with intense longing.
Alex thought over the question. After a few moments of consideration he answered, "Two months, maybe three."
"Three months." The android repeated. In the tank, Rudy was openly weeping. For the first time, the child who'd grown up inside a mausoleum of wire and metal glimpsed the hope of freedom.
The bracelet on Alex's wrist suddenly glowed an urgent and pulsing red. The earpiece in his ear crackled and Cecil's voice came out, "Omega are you there? There's an emergency at Mount Rushmore, the public's in danger.
Atom-Eve is already on her way. Rogue supervillain claiming we're terrorists on mother earth! Calls us the bad guys while he blows up America's favourite monument!"
The chrome-coloured droid placed the petri-dish back on the operating table. With a soft hiss, several mechanical arms emerged from the sides. The arms contained a multitude of complex technologies that scanned the newly grown flesh and injected fresh nutrient solution.
Rudy seemed to have picked up the frequency from Alex's earpiece and heard what Cecil said. The deformed figure in the tank waved goodbye weakly.
Alex pressed his hand up against the reinforced glass, "We'll keep going tomorrow."
The elevator dinged and the doors opened. Alex hurriedly entered. He pulled the black mask back over his head. The doors reopened a minute later. His wings flapped and he shot off into the sky. A sonic boom echoed out behind him.
Rudy was left alone in the underground chamber. The deformed figure in the tank stared tenderly at the piece of flesh. The chrome android whispered to itself, "Three months."
An object travelling at mach three ripped through the clouds above Montana. The pedestrians who happened to be looking up at the sky gasped and pointed out the tear in the cloudy skies.
Alex's earpiece crackled, "Invincible's headed to the party as well. Sorry kid, wasn't expecting the new Guardians to be such a shitshow."
The enormous stone heads carved into the landscape were impossible to miss. The fountains of magma erupting into the skies were equally conspicious. The earth was constantly being shaken by violent tremors.
A short older man in a white coat laughed maniacally. His head was almost bald save for a few thin strands of hair poking out randomly, "You've come to pray at this obscene monument? They were oppresors! Racists! Slave owners!"
"I give you a new god worthy of worship! Bow before Doc Seismic!"
Doc Seismic paused and squinted at the clouds in the distance. He rubbed his eyes and blinked.
"How dare you stand in the way of progress!" Doc Seismic roared with rage. He brought his wrists together. The large bands on his wrists hummed. The air shook violently as a shockwave pulsed into the sky.
The shockwave slammed into the speeding black blur. The impact threw Alex's flight into chaos. He spiralled wildly and crashed into the ground.
"Haha! Bow before-" Doc Seismic started to gloat. He was forced to hastily unleash another shockwave as the angel who'd crashed down from the skies dashed out from the dust of the explosion.
Alex was once more sent tumbling backwards uncontrollably. The supervillain was a lunatic, but his scientific genius was undeniable. The devices on his wrists emitted powerful shockwaves.
The chaotic tumbles from the sky had left Alex feeling dizzy. He urged his powers to clear the discomfort. The ground exploded as he kicked off and hurled himself at the supervillain.
Doc Seismic yelled furiously. He was forced to constantly unleash shockwaves at the infuriating hero who sought to stand in the way of his ambition, "Pathetic ant! Cease your interference! I will reshape this world into paradise!"
"Your paradise is just a new kind of oppression!"
The sudden voice caused Doc Seismic to whip his head around. He cursed violently under his breath and hurriedly unleashed a shockwave at the pink hero descending from the skies.
Atom-Eve's hands flashed with energy and a wall of pink light sprang up in front of her. The wall blocked the shockwaves and shattered.
Doc Seismic could feel his grip on the situation slipping. He screamed and unleashed a violent blast into the ground, "No! No! Leave me alone!"
Invincible was racing towards the mad supervillain. The shaking earth forced him to change course suddenly and save a young girl from falling into an open ravine.
Doc Seismic's eyes lit up with passion, "A god should be worshipped! Your sacrifices will build my empire!"
The powerful bands on his wrists snapped together once more. The supervillain madly unleashed shockwaves at the ground. Omega's arrival had forced Doc Seismic to briefly halt his destruction. Pushed to a point of desperation he now frantically set about resuming his earlier work.
The violently shaking ground began to cause rockfalls. Lincoln's nose tumbled down the clifface. The enormous heads started to crack and teeter precariously.
"Invincible! Help me evacuate the people! Omega can keep him occupied!" Atom-Eve yelled. She hastily constructed a floating pink net that prevented a family of four from falling to a fiery grave.
A boulder whooshed through the air. Doc Seismic's eyes widened and he unleashed a shockwave that shattered it before it could land on his head.
The first boulder was immediately followed by a hail of smaller stones. The repeated crashes into the earth had dirtied Omega's white wings. His costume was scuffed in numerous places.
Alex wasn't stupid enough to continue doing something that clearly wasn't working. He switched his tactic to hurling projectiles at Doc Seismic. The supervillain's earthquake gloves needed a few seconds to charge before they could fire at maximum intensity.
The barrage of stones forced Doc Seismic to dial back the power in exchange for increased attack frequency. The supervillain used his gloves to nimbly fly out of the range of the stones.
Invincible and Atom-Eve worked quickly to evacuate the civillians. Invincible was still an inexperienced flier, but he'd made noteworthy progress since Alex had last seen him.
Doc Seismic seethed with rage. He unleashed a powerful shockwave at the earth that propelled him high into the air, "Fine! Mother earth forgive me!"
The earthquake gloves hummed piercingly. Energy crackled and overflowed. Doc Seismic fired a shockwave into the earth that was nearly a dozen times more powerful than his previous attacks.
The earth cried out under the tyrannical force. The ground ruptured and shook wildly. A family plummeted into a gulley that stretched down to rivers of magma folowing below. The immense heat caused the air to shimmer.
Atom-Eve cried out. A beam of pink light stretched for nearly a hundred meters and caught the family in a pink bubble. She screamed out for help, "Invincible!"
The yellow and blue hero cursed under his breath and dashed towards the civillians. He wasn't going to make it in time. The thought of the civillains dying filled him with a strength he hadn't known that he possessed. He span his arms and drilled through the earth.
He emerged in a shower of stones and dirt out into the baking heat travelling up from the magma below. He hurriedly caught the falling family. Doc Seismic groaned with frustration as he watched the hero fly out from the ravine carrying the sacrifices to his new divinity.
Bang!
The moment of distraction tightened the net that had been closing around the supervillain. A black and white fist slammed into the side of Doc Seismic's face. The impact sent him flying like a ragdoll through the air.
Doc Seismic crashed into the ground. He bounced and rolled multiple times. When he eventually came to a stop it was clear that he was severely injured. The supervillain's breathing hissed and wheezed. A rib had punctured his lungs.
'If there's ever a next time, I'll kill you myself.' Alex looked murderously at the supervillain. His fists were clenched tightly at his sides.
Underneath the Pentagon, Cecil sighed with relief. He leaned forwards and spoke into a microphone. His voice was transmitted to all three earpieces of the heroes present, "Lincoln won't be smelling much and Jefferson's lost an ear, but they'll live. Good job."
Atom-Eve and Invincible flew over to Omega. They stood staring in disgust at Doc Seismic's unconscious body. No one felt any sympathy for the villain who'd just tried to kill hundreds of civillains.
"What a bastard." Atom-Eve said angrily.
Invincible shook his head in sheer disbelief. The reality of being a superhero was slowly dawning on him, "He could've killed so many people! How could anyone do that?"
Omega nodded solemnly in agreement. His wings flapped and expelled most of the dirt from his feathers, "You'll start seeing it soon. Nutjob's like him get their hands on a little bit of power and suddenly think they're-"
Omega paused. The winged hero chuckled ruefully, "-𝐈𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞."