Chapter Text
Author’s Note: I watched Invincible, finally. And it was amazing. The beginning was kinda disappointing because of how much I already had been spoiled over the years. But I didn’t know much of anything about Season 2 or 3, so I enjoyed them pretty thoroughly. Ultimately, I couldn’t help myself and had to write a fanfic lol.
Chapter 1: Mike Grayson
If life is a game, then it’s important to understand the win conditions. What is your purpose? What are you trying to achieve? Obviously having fun is important, but losing is rarely enjoyable. Especially in the context of something as important as life itself.
Invincibility isn’t illusive or impossible, it just requires the will to achieve it and then maintain that power in the long-term. There will always be copycats and cheaters appearing left and right. You have to assume that some asshole from the future or another dimension might show up to spoil everything at some point, but if there was no challenge at all, then what would be the fun in that?
The game I played before was too difficult. There was no win condition that I could find. It ended before I could truly enjoy it. I wasn’t unique in that regard, but it was still annoying. I wanted more out of life. Who doesn’t?
There were so many simple pleasures and joys I didn’t get to experience. So many normal things that average humans endured and enjoyed. I endured plenty and enjoyed some pleasures of my own, but it wasn’t what I wanted. It wasn’t good enough for me to be satisfied.
I created a lot. I destroyed very little. I lived a relatively short human life and then it was over.
I see it every damn day on the news. People live and die in an instant. Some asshole with a knife, a random blood clot, or a meteor falling from the sky. Death is everywhere, all the time. But there are some people who don’t die that easily.
“Mike, you’ve been staring at me for five minutes now and you haven’t even touched your spaghetti. It’s gonna get cold.” Dad raised an eyebrow and smiled at me, those bright blue eyes seemed so full of love and pride when he looked at me.
“Just annoyed about my genetics.” I rolled my brown eyes and complained, “I’m only twelve and I already stopped growing taller…”
“Don’t jinx it. I’m sure you’re gonna hit your growth spurt any day now!” My little brother cheered me on.
I looked over at the silly little brat and smiled wryly, “Mark… It’s okay. I never expected to be a giant like Dad, but at the very least, I wanted to be taller than 5’6”.”
It’s almost like a curse from my last life that carried over into this one. At least I avoided the acne and sinus issues this time around. Would be really fucking annoyed if that carried over as well. Actually, this is a universe where Curses are very real and actually kinda awesome sometimes.
“Michael, there’s nothing wrong with being short.” Says my 5’8” Mom, “Your grandfather was a few inches shorter than you are now and he still managed to bag your grandmother.”
“Ew.” Mark made a funny face and we all laughed. Such a cute kid.
“Mike, although most Viltrumites are as tall as I am or even bigger, we don’t have the same issues with sexual dimorphism as the humans of this world.” Dad explained to me seriously.
“In other words, you’re saying that my height and even my gender won’t matter once I awaken.” I wasn’t too surprised about that. We’re talking about monsters that can move many times faster than sound and blast asteroids apart easily. Of course, that strength is kinda contingent on some metaphysical bullshit, because I’ve definitely seen my father get his ass kicked by a giant Kaiju squid before. Moving at subsonic speeds. Without enough power to even destroy a mountain in a single slap.
Even if he’s holding back, how does he bleed so much? And sometimes the bruises took days or weeks to go away. What principle do Viltrumites operate on? Not just them, but there are so many Heroes and Villains in this new world that seem to randomly power up or power down depending on the plot.
“Mike, have you noticed anything strange about your body lately?” Dad asked with a worried expression on his handsome face, though the mustache looked kinda stupid.
“Any super strength, super speed, can you fly already?!” Mark shouted excitedly in my left ear and almost deafened me.
“Umm, no. Not any more than usual.” I shrugged my shoulders and sighed, “Maybe my Viltrumite genes aren’t as strong as Mom’s human genes?”
“Hmph. Impossible.” Dad crossed his massive arms in front of his huge chest and scoffed, “Besides, Mike, you started growing a mustache at seven. Look at Mark. He doesn’t even shave yet and he’s only a year younger than you.”
“That’s perfectly normal for an eleven year old boy.” Mom reached across the table and held Mark’s hand, “It’s okay, Sweetie.”
“Mom, I’m trying to eat.” The brat complained with pasta sauce all over his mouth.
I scratched my short beard and grumbled, “I’m gonna need to trim it again soon.”
“Mike, you should grow out your mustache and shave the rest of your beard. You looked so handsome as a cute little Omniboy for Halloween!” Mom was so cute and innocent too. That’s where Mark gets it.
“Thanks but no thanks.” I shrugged, “I hate the way it feels to have the hair coming down across my lip… And I never liked mustaches.”
“Mike, when you’re older you’ll understand the power of a good looking mustache.” Dad smiled at me and Mom leaned up to kiss his cheek. Causing my little brother to gag and grumble as usual.
“Maybe I’m just too old and jaded… Already twelve years old. I feel ancient.” I sighed dramatically and caused my parents to laugh again. They’re so happy together. Dad’s so happy just being a father. But unfortunately, this is a Death World.
*Rumble~!* The house started shaking violently, but my parents and even my little brother weren’t too worried about it.
“Breaking News!” The TV hanging on the wall attracted our attention, “We’ve received reports of a giant blue crab sighting in the Baltimore Harbor!” The woman on the news was pretty excited though, “Oh God! It’s headed towards the Francis Scott Key Bridge!”
“Nolan, I really like that bridge…” Mom gave Dad some puppy-dog eyes.
“Hey Mike, since you don’t want spaghetti, how about I bring you back some crab claws instead?” Before I could even say anything, Dad had already changed into his fancy Omni-Man suit and zipped out of the damn house.
“Hey! No fair~! I wanna eat Kaiju Crab too~!” Mark whined like the little kid that he literally was and Mom giggled happily. Not even slightly concerned for her husband’s safety. After all, he was Omni-Man: The strongest superhero on the damn planet. No, maybe even the strongest man in the universe. Basically a Superman level character.
And yet… He still almost got snipped in half by a random giant crab. Sure, he easily killed it in the end, but if he was faking how hard it was, he was one hell of an actor. Also sounded eerily similar to that guy who played Spiderman’s Boss in those movies from my last childhood.
The giant crab meat was pretty delicious though. The perks of being the son of a superhero. But seriously, I need to Awaken my powers soon or I’m pretty sure I’m gonna end up with the Protagonist treatment.
My Dad is just way too weak and good natured to survive in a world this fucked up.
Author’s Note; Okay, so I finished binge-watching the 3 available seasons of Invincible and had to write something lol. My idea is that this is one of the alternate universes in the canon Invincible. A lot of events would be very similar to canon, except Mark’s big brother Mike matures faster and awakens sooner… Oh yeah, and he’s also a reincarnation from one of the non-supernatural universes within the established Multiverse of Invincible. In other words, he doesn’t know any foreknowledge per se, at least not at the start. But considering it’s a setting where time-travel and multiversal travel are not only possible, but also canon and happen rather frequently(Debbie wasn’t even slightly concerned about Omniman going into a transdimensional fucking portal back then lol), so it’s not really a big deal to keep everything in-universe.
Not sure if this would even be considered an SI? Then again, most self-inserts aren’t even actually ‘self inserts’ now days.
Anyway, a lot of ‘secrets’ and ‘spoilers’ are actually things that the MC could easily learn about if he wasn’t as clueless or sheltered as Mark. Seriously, poor Mark was so cute and innocent at the start. It’s like every episode is another chunk of trauma for the kid.