"Hurry up, Mark! If you don't hurry up, I'm gonna leave your ass!" Conner yelled as he was already out the front door. The young man had black hair and blue eyes which resembled his father's.
"Language!" Debbie yelled from the dining room toward her older twin.
"English preferably but I'm also good with German, French, or Japanese," Conner countered before closing the door.
Mark had just run down the stairs and saw his mom shaking her head while trying not to laugh at what her son had just said. Debbie motioned Mark toward the door to signal that Conner had already gone out the door.
"Bye, Mom! Love you," Mark said as he rushed out the door to catch up to Conner. And he was lucky that he did. His twin was already pulling out of the driveway and would have left Mark behind if he was just a few seconds late.
"Wait for me, asshole!" Mark said to his twin brother. Unlike Conner's blue eyes, Mark had brown eyes like his mother.
Conner shot his younger twin a provocative smirk but did as he requested and stopped the car Mark opened the passenger door before throwing his backpack into the back seat and sitting down with a loud crash into the cushioned seats. Before Mark could even put on his seatbelt, Conner put his foot on the pedal and made the car move rapidly.
Mark was jolted for a moment before he recovered and shot his brother another glare which just earned him a lazy smile in return.
"I can't wait to get my own car," Mark said as he put on his seat belt.
"Ha. You will be able to afford one when you stop spending all your allowance and paychecks on Science Dog," Conner shot back.
Each of the twins had been getting an allowance since they were 13 and had to get jobs when they got into high school. Both of them were very social in their school but to different degrees.
Mark was very friendly to lots of people so he would always be spending his money on hanging out with friends. If his money wasn't spent on socializing, the rest went to junk food and comic books.
Conner was different. Although he seemed very close to the 'popular' crowd, Conner would very rarely interact with others outside of school. He also had very few hobbies that took up large amounts of money. Thus he was able to save lots of money. At least, that is what his family thought.
It wasn't long before they arrived at Reginald Vel Johnson High School. Conner dropped Mark off at the front steps while he went around to the student parking to find himself a spot.
'It's our senior year. Things should be starting pretty soon.'
While he was parking, Conner began to think about his lives. Both his current and his previous. That's correct, Conner is a famous reincarnator and transmigrator. He had been born in a world without superheroes or powers but with plenty of entertainment.
One of the many comics he had read was Invincible by Image Comics. It was also one of the few comics he truly loved since it had a single writer that was able to control the story and it actually ended instead of having 50 different reboots.
When he died and was given a chance to come to a new universe, Conner took the chance to head to this universe before he remembered just how dangerous it was.
While the story of Invincible was amazing, the universe itself was very dangerous. Millions of people were killed by the end of the series due to several threats. If he had been reborn in this world as a normal human, the chances of him dying were pretty good.
But due to his good karma, Conner was able to get a few gifts before he came. He was allowed one bloodline, one power, and one piece of equipment or item. He had to be careful about his picks since he did not receive much karma so getting the best things would take away from the others. After carefully balancing everything, Conner could find the right combination for himself.
- Viltrumite Bloodline (Image Comics)
- King of Red Aura (K-Project)
- Vibranium (Marvel)
The bloodlines were the most expensive and most useful things that Conner could get. They would allow Conner to gain multiple powers and abilities. The best one he could get that would allow him to get a decent power and piece of equipment was the Viltrumite bloodline. It would normally cost much more but since he was being reborn in the Image Comics universe, he got a great discount.
This would not only make him much stronger than 99.9 percent of the universe, but it would also put him on par with other Viltrumites as long as he trained as hard and with the willpower that Mark had.
The list of powers that he could choose was extensive. Even with a budget in mind, there were still countless powers he could choose from the many universes. After careful selection, he decided to choose the King of Red Aura.
This was a versatile power that was very useful for Conner. It would not only make him a bit stronger than Mark starting off but would also allow him to use ranged attacks using flames and create barriers. He could also give weaker versions of it to other people which would mean he could form his own forces.
Perhaps the most useful aspect of the power was the supernatural properties of the aura. His flames could burn absolutely anything if he was able to master them. Conner was also hoping that Viltrumites shared the Krpytonians', they were based on, weakness of magical properties.
The equipment was the thing that was the easiest yet hardest to choose. There were countless weapons that could have been chosen, with some of them being the most powerful in the multiverse. But those more powerful pieces required special bloodlines, years to master, and Karmic Points that he would not have even if he saved the whole world.
So after seeing that he could not choose anything too powerful, Conner had to browse through what was left after he bought the power and bloodline. When he skimmed through the remaining equipment, he settled with a ton of Vibranium.
Although Vibranium couldn't really stand up against Viltrumites' strength, it was useful for many other things. By creating weapons or tech with Vibranium, Conner could push beyond the limits that many metals had. And even if he could not use it to perfectly defend against Viltrumites, it did not mean that it was useless. Some better than none.
With all these powers, Conner was confident that he could survive in the universe of Invincible without any trouble.
Conner parked his car and got out before he looked over and saw the two prettiest girls in school walking in together. Both of them were redheads and had stunning figures. The main difference between the pair when one looked at them from behind is that one had the muscles and height of an amazon while also being much taller than the other. The former also had much shorter hair that only reached her shoulders.
Conner strode over to the pair and covered the taller girl's eyes from behind.
"Guess who?"
"Hmm. Is it my boyfriend that was supposed to pick me up this morning from practice but forgot so I had to get a ride from Eve? Not WITH Eve but FROM Eve."
Conner let out an apologetic chuckle before taking his hands off her eyes. He was indeed supposed to pick her up this morning but he completely forgot about it. She had called him when he was still sleeping and he was only half-awake when he agreed.
"My bad, hun," Conner apologized without putting on any airs. "Thanks for being a better boyfriend than me, Eve."
Both girls turned and looked at Conner. The taller one, that was also Conner's girlfriend, shot Conner a glare and pout while the shorter one gave him a playful smile.
The taller girl was Caitlin Fairchild. She and Conner had been dating since Sophomore year. Caitlin was the fire to Conner's water. She was usually high-spirited and passionate while Conner was very relaxed and went with the flow. Most who knew them were surprised that they could date for almost 2 years without killing each other.
The shorter of the pair was Samantha Wilkins but most of her friends called her Eve. She had grown up across the street from Caitlin. The pair had been close ever since they were kids. And ever since Caitlin and Conner started dating, she also got closer to him.
Caitlin walked to Conner's side before grabbing right his arm and leaning on him while Eve stood on their left. The trio walked into the school as such with attracted the attention of several students. But after seeing this scene so many times, most just ignored them.
The group made their way towards their lockers which were all located near each other. But as they were approaching them, they could hear something happening down the hall. The trio turned to look and saw that someone very similar to Conner was confronting another kid that looked to weigh another 30 pounds of muscle on him.
"Why don't you pick on someone your own size, Todd?" asked Mark
"You really want this, Grayson?" asked the bulkier bully named Todd.
Before Mark could say anything else, he was quickly punched in the face. Not expecting it, Mark was further thrown into confusion by the sudden pain. He was then given another punch that hit him in the gut and brought Mark to the ground.
Todd lifted his leg and seemed prepared to bring his foot down on Mark's face but before he could, he was pulled from behind and lost his balance. By the time he recovered it, someone else was standing in front of him and reaching out his hand to help Mark up.
"Two blows? Don't let anyone else know I'm your brother if it only takes two blows to bring you to the ground," Conner said in a teasing manner.
Seeing his brother had arrived, Mark felt both relieved and embarrassed. His brother had usually been helping him out whenever he got into such situations since Mark would constantly act before he thought his actions through.
"The first blow caught me off guard. I could take him on easily," Mark said as he grabbed Conner's hand and got off the ground.
The pair of brothers stood side by side which made their differences more obvious. Although they were twins and looked similar, the pair were fraternal twins. Conner had much sharper features and had 5 inches on Mark. He also had a more muscular figure.
When Todd saw who had shown up, he instinctively backed up. He had heard the rumors about Conner. Although the boy was usually laid back, he would turn into an animal when he got into a fight. Several guys had been sent to the hospital by him in the past.
"The teachers will be here soon, Conner. If you really wanna fight, I don't mind kicking your ass before getting suspended," Todd said trying to bluff.
Conner gave Todd a lazy, uncaring smile as if it was not his own brother that had just gotten beaten up. This freaked out Todd even more than if Conner had looked angry instead.
"I'm not interested in a fight or cleaning up after my brother. He is almost 18 and can take care of himself," Conner said before putting his hand on Mark's shoulder and pulling him away.
Conner pulled Mark towards his best friend William. The bell soon rang after. Conner waved at Caitlin and Eve as he dragged Mark and William to their class. The duo nodded before also heading towards their first class of the day.
The rest of the hallway also began to clear up as each of the students was rushing toward their class. No one seemed to notice the fleeting glance Conner shot Todd as he ushered his brother and William.
When they got to class, Conner pulled out his phone and sent two text messages. One to Caitlin, the other to a number without a name. The message to Caitlin was to reassure her that he would not fight with Todd.
The message to the other number was different though. It contained two strings of numbers and letters before saying 'Let them know who did it.'
Todd would later discover that his car exploded in the middle of class. When he came out to see it, a large crowd had gathered. He pushed through to see the destruction of his car but before he could ask who did it, he saw the message that was burned into the ground next to his car.
"No Blood! No Bone! No Ash!"
Todd and the police who soon came to investigate the case were all stunned before silently pretending that nothing happened. If they got involved with whoever did this, they would surely just be getting themselves into more trouble than it was worth.