The voice of the chrome-coloured droid was filled with gratitude, "I cannot thank you enough Alex. What you are doing is truly incredible."
Alex looked up. He smiled at the deformed figure suspended in the tank, "We're friends Rudy. I'm happy to help."
A body was gradually taking shape on the operating table. Just over a week had passed since the first cluster of bone marrow cells developed. Since then, Alex had also created a skull, collar bone and a handful of vertebrae.
Rudy's excitement grew with every passing day. He watched lovingly as his new body took shape. He'd dreamt of a life outside his tank since he was born. That dream was slowly transforming into reality.
The new Guardians had made minimal progress in their cohesiveness as a unit. As individuals they were strong, but as a team they were discordant and prone to disagreement. The first training session had been rocky. The world's supposed greatest protectors were regularly too full of their own egoes to put aside their differences and focus on how they could save the greatest number of lives.
The process of building a human body from scratch was unimaginably complex. The last piece of the template he'd obtained from the angel had slotted into place more than a week ago. The delicate operations of controlling cells to divide and co-regulate was improving his fine-control over his powers by leaps and bounds.
'I need to find something else.' The thought existed in the back of Alex's mind.
It was far easier to take advantage of superior genomes and anatomy that already existed than to try to create his own. The previous Guardians were all dead, but there were still numerous beings on earth that could improve his strength.
The only survivor of the massacre, Omni-Man was perhaps the most powerful of them all. The alien warrior kept himself to himself, he wasn't friendly towards other heroes like the Guardians had been.
Alex was keen to get his hands on Omni-Man's genetic template. Unfortunately the opportunity to do so had yet to present itself. If he tried to touch the alien hero without a good reason he was reasonably confident that his arm would be snapped in two.
Omni-Man had saved millions of lives. Alex had watched hours of footage of the viltrumite's heroic feats. Some of them were so incredible that they bordered on miracles.
'Invincible is far more accessible to me. Even if he's only half-viltrumite, his genes will still be greatly beneficial.' He thought to himself.
The yellow and blue superhero was currently on a mission far away from earth. It hadn't been that long since Invincible made his debut. The young superhero was still learning how to control his incredible powers. There were many C and B-tier supes who were far more skillfull fliers.
Fortunately, the viltrumite DNA gave Invincible an extraordinarly high starting point. He didn't need to be the best flier or fighter when he could solve the overwhelming majority of problems simply by smashing through them. The fact that he could also fly through space unaided and survive in a vacuum made him the perfect babysitter for the astronauts.
"The exploration team have safely returned to earth." The chrome-coloured droid announced.
Alex blinked, for a moment he was worried that Rudy had somehow peered into his thoughts. Then he turned and saw the breaking news playing on one of the many screens in the undergound chamber. The triumphant astronauts waved as they stepped down from the spaceship. The landing pad was surrounded by thousands of screaming fans.
"I don't know whether I should be scared or comforted that we're not alone in the universe." Alex remarked.
The deformed figure in the tank wrinkled its lips into an ugly smile. The chrome-coloured droid replied, "I find it comforting. Imagine all that we could learn from the civilisations of other sentient species."
Alex smiled. His attention was effortlessly split between the conversation and culturing a group of red blood cells, "Maybe they've got just as many problems as we do."
The work taking place in the underground chamber was extraordinary. Only a small handful of individuals knew exactly how far the boundaries of science were being pushed.
There was no daylight deep undergound. A clock on the wall beeped to signal that it had reached five o clock. The process of creating life was addictive. Alex often lost himself entirely in the work. He'd only realise how much time had passed hours later.
The new Guardians were staggering towards becoming a functional team. For Alex this was his world. The previous day the Guardians had fought against a villanous organization known as the Lizard League.
The Lizard League were a pathetic excuse for a supervillain group. He was confident that he could have subdued all of them in under a minute. He'd held back from doing so. It was more important that the Guardians learned how to work as a team.
For Taylor, life remained a mixture of essays and patiently explaining the difference between Z's and S's to children with crayon on their faces. She loved her degree and endlessly recounted stories of the children's achievements.
As a Guardian of The Globe, Alex was always on call to save the world. The initial contract he'd signed with Cecil had been modified extensively as a result. After five-o-clock, unless there was a Guardians emergency, he was free to spend time with Taylor or visit his family.
The elevator shaft opened. He called out as the doors shut, "See you tomorrow Rudy!"
The flight back to Michigan only took twenty minutes at mach three. There was very little difficulty to commuting when a person had wings.
A knock sounded on Taylor's bedroom door. She smiled and got up to open it. Alex was stood at the door with a boquet of flowers in one hand.
The flowers were a mixture of baby's breath and lillies. The floral scent was intoxicating. She took them from him happily, "Punctual and bearing a gift. You're not bad at this whole romance thing you know."
Alex smiled, "Thanks, I do my best."
The evening was laid-back. The meatballs nearly burned, but he caught them just in time. A couple of Taylor's housemates came in with pleading expressions and were also given a bowl. By ten pm Taylor was fast asleep to the sound of a movie playing. They'd barely made it ten minutes into the film.
Alex mumbled to himself aloud, "She's like an old person."
The next morning Taylor woke up and groggily wiped her eyes. Her brain took a few seconds to catch up with her memories of the night before, "I fell asleep didn't I."
Alex turned his head to look at her. He was sat in her desk chair reading an article on bone density in captive rhinocerous. The article wasn't in English.
"Out like a light." He replied.
Taylor groaned and threw her head back on the pillow, "I was finally going to get you to watch a rom-com!"
Alex shrugged and frowned perplexedly, "I'll never get why you like those movies."
Taylor shot out of bed. She was barefoot and wearing one of his shirts and pyjama bottoms, "Because they're amazing! Don't you dream about falling in love?"
An eyebrow was raised at her in response. Alex asked quizically, "You do know that we've been dating for three years?"
Taylor smiled. She wrapped her arms around his chest and kissed him on the head, "Every day feels like a rom-com with you."
"Cheesy, but not bad." She recieved in reply.
The rest of the day passed by in a pleasant blur. Taylor headed off to lessons and Alex had a few hours training with the new Guardians before joining Rudy underground to continue work on the new body.
He was concentrating on creating a central nervous system when alarms suddenly began to blare. Inside the tank, the real Rudy looked immediately concerned.
The chrome-coloured droid hurried into the elevator. Alex followed closely after without hesitating. The doors shut, "Invincible is in danger."
The wall exploded open. The Guardians emerged as rubble showered down around them. Black Samson dropped to one and spoke to Invincible who was lying wounded on the ground, "Cecil got an anonymous call. We'll take it from here!"
The half-viltrumite hero was bleeding heavily. One of his eyes was swollen shut from a deep-purpleish bruise. The white of the other eye was dyed completely red from broken blood vessels.
The owner of the tower, Machine Head, slammed his fists down on his desk, "Kill! These! Idiots!"
A towering and muscular lion-headed warrior roared. There was something different about him to the other hired goons. The lion-headed warrior raised a golden four-pointed mace.
The chrome-coloured droid began to glow. The weapons built into its body charged and fired off bursts of blinding energy. The energy blasts seared through the air towards the lion-headed warrior.
"More!" The lion-headed warrior didn't move an inch. The energy blasts landed harmlessly on his fur. Robot's attack failed to even singe one of his hairs.
The lion-headed warrior's bloodlust was so intense that the air felt stagnant. With a roar that rumbled like an earthquake the warrior kicked off the ground and charged towards Robot.
The other members of the Guardians faced up against their own opponents. Monster Girl launched herself through the air at a supervillain encased in thick metal armour.
The armoured villain stumbled back as an enormous green fist collided with his chest. The metal dented and deformed from the impact. Monster Girl yelled and started to advance again.
Her advance was forcibly halted by another supervillain. Even after her transformation, the villain towered above her. The villain grinned murderously. Their entire body was composed of magma. The villain thrust his arms forwards and two jets of magma whooshed towards Monster Girl.
The ground underneath the magma villain's feet boiled and began burning through to the floor below. Monster Girl screamed in agony as the magma washed across her back. The green skin blistered and burned away, revealing the tightly woven bands of pink muscle beneath. The air was filled with the smell of burning flesh.
Black Samson and Robot leaped about the room, firing off an endless volley of blasts to at the lion-headed warrior. Their attacks did nothing.
"No! Fight harder! Show me how you struggle!" The lion-headed warrior rared. His speed suddenly skyrocketed and he appeared behind Robot in an instant. The golden mace smashed cleanly through the android's chest.
Still sparking circuitry scattered across the ground. Robot's vocal processor produced a series of crackles and screams before exploding in a shower of sparks. The hero's green eyes that normally glowed with light began to fade.
Omega dueled with a villain dressed entirely in yellow. The villain's hair was styled into a jagged lightning bolt like shape. The costume was childish, but the villain's strength was formiddable.
Omega and the lightning-villain blurred from place to place. The lightning-villain howled with rage and unleashed bolt after bolt of crackling lightning at his opponent. Omega chased after the lighting-villain. The villain always managed to evade his punches at the last second.
The lightning-villain was blindingly fast, his body appeared to transform entirely into electrity at will. The speeds of Omega and the lightning-villain were evenly matched. The limited size of the battlefield gave a greater advantage towards the lightning-villain's near instantaneous movement. Omega required multiple kilometers in the air to accelerate to his maximum speed.
A bolt of lightning that hissed against Omega's skin were only capable of causing superficial damage. The lightning-villain was fast, but he was only slightly stronger and more durable than an average person. The villain's only option was to hastily evade and rely on long-range attacks. If a single punch from Omega landed, he would die.
"Fuck you motherfucker!" Rex-Splode yelled.
The explosive hero had been working together with Shrinking Rae and Dupli-Kate to barely fend off a villain. The villain wore a strange chestplate containing nearly a dozen thick pink tendrils.
The tendril-villain laughed gleefully. Two tendrils whipped forwards and tore apart one of Dupli-Kate's clones. Blood and organs rained down to the ground. The clone's final act was a scream of pure terror.
Shrinking Rae leaped about agilely and dodged the attacks of the pink tendrils. She tried to shrink down and get closer, but a tendril lashed out at her and hurled her violently against a wall. She screamed in pain and slid down to the ground. Her eyes bulged and she tried desperately to bring air into her lungs.
The lion-headed warrior growled. The sound was one of frustration not rage. He grunted and appeared in an instant behind Rex-Splode. An enormous paw covered in white fur hurled the hero across the room as if he weighed nothing. Rex-Splode's head cracked against a chunk of rubble and he hit the floor unconscious.
"Oh?" The lion-headed warrior said. He sounded surprised and slightly excited.
Immediately after the lion-headed warrior spoke, a fist covered in bone-plating crashed into his cheek. The powerful blow caused the warrior to retreat a few steps.
The lion-headed warrior snarled ferociously, "Yes! An opponent worthy of my time! Let us fight!"
The lightning-villain was crumpled lifelessly on the ground. The villain's throat was torn open. The wounds looked to have been caused by some kind of wild animal.
Omega's eyes widened beneath his mask. The golden ring on his finger screamed a warning at him with an intensity he'd never felt before. A sonic boom cracked as wings beat forcefully and propelled him to one side.
A golden mace smashed into the ground where the hero had been standing just milliseconds ago. The concrete exploded in a shower of dust. The crater left behind was multiple feet deep.
The lion-headed warrior howled with joy. His enormous figure shot forwards and appeared again in front of Omega. This time sharp claws flicked out from the tips of his fingers and slashed through the air.
'He's fast!'
Omega's wings flapped again. The muscles strained and tore from the violent use. Omega hurriedly urged his powers to repair the damage. The claws sliced through empty air.
The hero could feel the gap between himself and his opponent. It was like a chasm. The lion-headed warrior was grinning wildly. The chase didn't stop. The warrior flickered about the room, growling and venting his bloodlust wildly.
"More! More!" The lion-headed warrior yelled.
The golden mace tore through the air. This time it didn't miss. The weapon landed with a sickening crunch against one of Omega's wings.
Omega screamed in pain. The uninjured wing flapped desperately and carried him crookedly out of the way of another strike. The torn muscle tissue and shattered bones in the wing were repairing themselves at incredible speed. Within seconds the wing was restored to functionality. The only evidence of the damage were the feathers stained red with blood.
The lion-headed warrior raised an eyebrow. He grinned and licked the blood of his opponent from his lips, "Interesting."
"Hey! Asshole!" Black Samson yelled. His right arm was outstretched and the glove on his wrist glowed urgently with energy building violently within.
Bang!
The glove erupted with a shower of sparks. The hero cried out in pain and staggered backwards. Omega kicked off the ground and shot like a comet towards the lion-headed warrior. The bone plating on his fist that had been broken earlier grew wildly. A punch connected squarely to the nose of the lion-headed warrior.
A drop of blood trickled out. The lion-headed warrior wiped it away with his thumb. He stared at with a look of pure fascination.
Suddenly, Omega felt the wind whip past his ears. The lion-headed warrior's enormous fist tore cleanly through his stomach.
The warrior brought his lips close to the hero's ear, "You made me bleed ant. It has been a long time since I saw my own blood."
The warrior's voice dropped lower, "I wonder how many times you can repair those pretty little wings of yours."
The lion-headed warrior ripped his fist out of Omega's stomach. His glove was smeared with blood and mangled organs. Two huge paws grabbed each of Omega's wings.
The sound of flesh and bone tearing was horrible. The lion-headed warrior tore off a chunk of flesh with his teeth and chewed it. He made an expression that almost seemed like approval. The warrior swallowed.
The angelic white wings were tossed callously across the room. The warrior delivered a powerful kick that hurled the now fallen angel into the reinforced glass. The glass cracked and splintered.
The lion-headed warrior grinned savagely and licked his lips, "Could use some seasoning!"
Omega's consciousness blurred. The self-protective feature of his powers kicked in. The gaping wound in his abdomen began to squirm. The edges began to slowly close back together. The broken shoulder bones also began to realign themselves. The wounds were healing. But far more slowly than they had before.
The lion-headed warrior turned his attention to Invincible. He advanced with slow measured steps. The hunter knew that its prey had nowhere to run.
Invincible's eyes widened. He gasped painfully. He tried desperately to drag himself across the ground with his arms.
The lion-headed warrior slammed his foot down on Invincible's ankles. The bones audibly cracked. Invincible screamed out in agony.
The lion headed warrior grunted, "That sound. It is like music. If only you could appreciate it."
Bang!
The golden mace slammed into Invincible's chest. The pointed edges left a star shaped wound. The injury was so deep that a person would be able to look over and see Invincible's entrails mixing with the shards of his broken ribs.
The lion-headed warrior spat on Invincible's severely wounded body, "There is no honour in killing insects."
The warrior clicked a device on his wrist. A glowing rectangular portal materialised. The lion-headed warrior stepped inside. The portal closed and the warrior vanished.
Space shimmered and folded in on itself. An older man with thinning hair and a prominent scare to his cheek appeared out from the light. Nearly a hundred GDA agents with large rifles teleported in as well.
The villains that were still standing were all injured to one degree or another. They looked panickedly between themselves and hurriedly raised their hands into the air.
Cecil looked across the devestation. He rubbed his temple, "What a fucking mess."
"I agree."
Cecil raised an eyebrow. He recognised the voice.
Omega's costume was torn all over. The hero had been lying on the floor, seemingly fatally wounded just moments ago. Now he was back on his feet and casually wiping off his own blood and guts.
"Don't tell me a guy like you hasn't faked his death before?"
Cecil laughed, "You're full of surprises kid."