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Let's get one thing straight here: Rex definitely didn’t like Invincible. From the stupid name, to the stupid shit he said, to the way his dad was goddamn Omni-Man of all people, Rex didn’t like him.
But he didn’t exactly hate him. Sure Invincible had the dream for any superhero: almost every power, two loving parents, no mysterious evil siblings. It seemed like his life would be smooth sailing. That was until the fight against Machine Head, and man, seeing him smashed against the floor like that?
Rex wasn’t sure how someone could be so injured and still be alive.
And in the aftermath of the battle, just before he had fallen unconscious, Invincible had called out for his father, choking on the name and staring through the hole in the roof. Rex looked after where Invincible had been and fuck.
Omni-man hovered just above the building. The look on his face was ice and stone. A chill spiralled down Rex’ spine that had nothing to do with the pain.
Had he been there the whole time? Had he watched a group of villains beat his son mostly to death and done jack shit about it? Omni-man shook his head once and disappeared, flying faster than the human eye could see. Rex’s gaze darted back to Invincible’s face and the stricken look on it.
Maybe Mr.Perfect’s life wasn’t so perfect after all.
Somehow that didn’t make him feel any better.
***
It wasn’t like Rex had never seen the kid injured before, he thought, laying in the hospital bed as the nurses insisted they check him over, even if he wasn’t even close to the most injured person in the aftermath. Invincible really didn’t live up to his name. He usually had a bruise somewhere on him at the very least, but at least it had never been by the hands of a villain.
In hindsight he really should have put the pieces together back then.
Every time Invincible left quickly or arrived late to an attack, he said it was his dad that had kept him. For training, he said. Rex knew it was probably true, Invincible spoke of Omni-man with a small smile about his lips and a pride in his voice that couldn’t make their relationship anything less than loving.
Still.
Everyone, or at least most of the people on the hero scene, knew that Omni-man was some type of invulnerable alien from millions of miles away. He had always been seen as the pinnacle of strength, and was the only one to survive the mass-slaughter of the Guardians of the Globe. From what he had heard, it was a sweet love story. Sent to save the Earth, and fell in love with an ordinary human woman.
Lets just say the rumors got around. Most secret identities were overturned by rumors and gossip, but if the ones about Omni-Man were true...
Rex wondered if Omni-Man remembered his son was half-human. That he wasn’t invulnerable.
Judging by the state Invincible was in, he wasn’t so sure.
As soon as the nurses left him alone, he got up, pulling along the IV stand behind him. He limped as quietly as he could to watch through the window of the kid’s surgery room. A woman slept out in the hallway with a blanked half-draped over her. He guessed she was his mom. God. He wondered again why exactly they let the parents watch the surgery.
In the room, the third team of surgeons was doing something to Invincible’s torso and ew oh God that was disgusting. It had been 16 hours since surgery had begun for the kid, and they were still working on it.
Yep. Having your internal organs crushed will do that to you. And they had said something about his spine back when the paramedics had rushed in? Yikes. Big yikes. It was a good thing he was half-indestructible.
Omni-Man, strangely enough, was nowhere in sight.
***
Looking back, Rex remembered something back before he had fucked it all up with Eve. It was maybe the second time Invincible had visited Team Teen’s base, and the fifth time they had met overall. He used “met” strongly in this case, because as soon as the kid had landed, Eve had spirited him away to her room in the compound.
At first, he thought they were gonna have another one of their school studying sessions, and he meant that genuinely, like, they literally went to the same high school, and Eve was really smart. Again, Invincible wasn’t the sharpest crayon in the box, so it wasn’t a wild thought that he’d be asking Eve to help him study.
It was petty curiosity that motivated him to follow them. It turned morbid when he heard Eve rummaging for bandages.
“I don’t understand how you’re okay with this, M-- Invincible,” she sighed.
“It’s fine. I promise. It’s just he doesn’t really know his own strength. And I asked for it, anyway. It’ll make me stronger, and I have to be strong. I’m a Viltrumite .” Rex’ brows furrowed. Was he some type of alien?
“You’re a kid.”
“We’re the same age!”
“I’m not the one who lets my dad beat me up for ‘training,’” Eve grumbled. “And I’m older anyway.”
“Eve,” Invincible said, weary. “Please. He’s my dad. ”
“Dads can do pretty nasty things. Trust me, I know.”
“Your dad and mine it’s-- it's just not the same. I know what I’m doing.”
“Promise me one thing.”
“Again?” The joke came weakly. Invincible sighed. “Sorry, go on.”
“Promise me…” A steady exhale. “Promise me you’ll tell him if he goes too far.”
“Yeah. Yeah I will.”
“Then you’re free to go. I’ve bandaged your ribs, and those bruises you got on your arms. I’m surprised your wrists are still working.”
“Viltrumite, remember?” And Rex could hear that little smirk in his voice. “We heal quickly.”
“Not quickly enough.”
What the fuck.
But then again, this was Mr.Perfect Rex was thinking about. He had probably just been arrogant and his dad had taken it as a challenge, and then Invincible had gotten beaten up.
...or at least that's what he had thought at the time. God he was such an idiot.
***
It happened again after the whole robot incident at that one college. The evening after it happened, Rex got word of it. Invincible was the one who took care of it, and Rex didn’t bother to remember the details about the whole thing. That was, at least, until he woke up one day and found the man of the hour collapsed on the floor of the Guardians of the Globe headquarters.
“Shit. Uh. Invincible? Jerk-face?”
“Sss- sorry… ‘m awake.” The idiot was slurring his words.
“What the hell happened to you?”
“Training.”
“What the hell type of training have you been doing? You’re literally passed out on the floor right now. OH my god.”
“That…” Invincible broke off to pant. “Doesn’ matter. I’ll jus’ sleep it off.”
“Like hell you will. How long have you been here?” Rex swore again as the kid seemed to slip unconscious again.
“Woah. Did you guys fight or something?” Shrinking Rae just appeared. God he wished she would stop doing that.
“No! I didn’t beat him up. He just came like this!” Rex looked over what was visible of the kid’s face (relatively unbruised, only a few minor scratches and cuts). He sighed. Dupli-Kate and Black Samson had also shown up by that point, and they all just stood there watching him. They might as well make themselves useful.
“Do any of you have Atom Eve’s phone number?”
“No, why would we?”
“God I have to do everything myself.” At that, Black Samson nearly growled and stomped forward, injured as he was, but Dupli-Kate put a hand on his shoulder.
Rex brought out his phone, and dialed the number, praying that Eve hadn’t blocked him. She probably had, but it was entirely deserved. He was an asshole and he knew it.
Surprisingly, after a few rings, she picked up.
“You have one minute to say what you need to say, and then I’m hanging up.”
“Shit. Uh. Sorry-- no wait this isn’t an apology don’t hang up! It’s about Invincible. He’s had another…” Rex looked up at the rest of the Guardians. “Training incident.”
“Shit. How bad is it? Wait a second-- how do you know about that? Were you spying on us? ”
“He’s literally unconscious on the floor, I think we can talk about it later.”
“You’re such an asshole.”
“Yeah. I know. Look, can you just get over here?”
"Yeah I’ll be there in five.”
The phone clicked off, and Rex lowered it from his ear. The rest of the Guardians were staring at him with their beady little eyes. Well, not beady. They just had that sort of suspicious look about them that set off all of the bad-response nerves in his body.
“So. Care to fill us in?” and God if it wasn’t the worst one of them that answered. Black Samson already hated him enough. That was why he really didn’t want to have to deal with his insufferability after he responded. He wasn’t exactly fond of being threatened all the time.
“I’ll tell you later. For now can we just focus on getting this idiot off the floor?”
“Fine. But I want an explanation. In full.” With that, he stalked off. Probably to sulk in his room, if a grown man could sulk.
“Asshole,” Rex muttered. To be fair, he was probably still heavily injured. That fight… it had been a wake up call for most of them, especially him. Omni-Man’s cold rage flashed in his mind again and he shuddered. Scratch Black Samson being an asshole, Omni-Man was an even bigger one.
Kate and Rae walked over and knelt around Invincible, helping him to assess injuries. There wasn’t much they could do without taking the costume off and Rex was very much not in the mood for stripping anyone to their underwear at this very moment. They did, however, decide that they shouldn’t move him too much, as they didn’t know how bad his injuries were. One of his fingers was definitely bent the wrong way and Rex had a sinking feeling he was going to be the one to un-dislocate it when the time came.
Finally Eve arrived, and the moment she saw Invincible she gasped. Despite the stupid name, Invincible really was damn close to being it, so it was a little jarring to see him prone on the floor.
“What happened?”
“I told you, it was training.”
Her eyes darkened, and a scowl rippled her mouth. “Damnit. Again. I swear to God, he's such an idiot.”
“I resent that,” came the weak voice from said Idiot with a capital I. Rex frowned, but before he could say anything, Eve spoke up.
“What happened.”
“There was an attack yesterday… humans turned into robots at a college by some crazy kid.” He took a breath with far more effort than he should have. “I beat them, but my ribs were hurt pretty badly.” His voice grew stronger, but then he giggled and ruined any chance Rex had of respecting his dignity. “They wrapped them over my suit.”
“That doesn’t explain, well, this.”
“My dad decided that I had healed enough to train later that night. I didn’t stop him, he was already in a bad mood.”
“You do realize how fucked up that sounds, right?” Rex interrupted flatly. “Your dad was in a bad mood, you didn’t want to make him angrier, and you end up here on the floor all fucked up.”
Invincible flinched. Eve glared at him.
“What? I’m literally just laying out the facts here. I’ve only ever seen him seriously hurt at the hands of that crazy alien tiger freak, apparently those human robot things, and his own fucking dad.” Rex scowled and his fists tightened against his thighs. “I was in the hospital during your surgery after the whole Machine Head thing, remember? I saw your mom sleeping outside, but not even a trace of your dad.”
“Dude. That’s enough.” He thought that might have been Kate, but whoever it was, he ignored them.
“And another thing, I saw him watching that whole fight. You saw him too didn’t you? He watched that entire fucking thing and he did jack shit. He just hovered there and let you take that beating. He let the entire team almost die, and for what? Training? To make you stronger?”
“That’s not-- that wasn’t it--”
“Listen, kid. I’m no old man, but I’ve seen some shit. What he did was fucked up. And no I don’t give a flying fuck if your dad is Omni-Man. He was always kinda an asshole anyway.”
“Shut up.” Invincible actually growled . Damn. “I know. I know. But--”
“What, you think he’s somehow not an asshole?”
“But,” He continued, gritting his teeth. “I have to get stronger. I’m still too weak. My dad doesn’t-- he cares about me.”
“Are you hearing yourself right now.”
“He wants what’s best for me. So what, I get a little roughed up every once in a while? It’s training, and the Metalhead thing was my own fault. I can’t expect to feel great all the time--”
“Dude.”
“--and anyway, I’ll heal. I’ve been healing, my ribs are literally growing together as we speak. They should have healed a while ago, actually, but it's not like it matters since they’re almost done anyway!” Invincible was breathing heavily. “So don’t you dare say anything about my dad. Just shut. Up.”
“Fine. Shutting up. Anyone have anything else to say?” Rex raised an eyebrow. He crossed his arms, and cocked his head. “One more thing, actually. Did Omni-Man apologize to you after Machine Head? Did he say anything at all?”
Invincible clenched his jaw.
That was answer enough.
Rex shook his head, standing up, and went to keep his promise. He wandered until his snarky anger had cooled to something more serious, more sharp. Then he went to find Black Samson.
Black Samson, as it turns out, was in his room. The room itself was mostly bare, plain gray walls and tiled floor, but there were several old pictures hung on the wall, and a bedside table with a glass of water on it. Samson was on the austere bed. He was sitting and reading the book he kept, and looked up with flinty eyes when Rex came in.
“I fucking hate Omni-Man,” Rex answered to his expectant gaze.
“What?”
“I never really liked either of them in the first place,” he said, running a hand over his chin, pacing back and forth. “Omni-Man because despite all of his heroics, he was a bit of a dick, and Invincible because he was a goody two shoes prick, but God this takes the whole fucking cake.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“And the worst part is that the kid knows it too, and doesn’t want to admit it to himself. Shit. And what’s he gonna do anyway, tell his dad that he beat him so bad that he was laying on the floor all night until I got here and he finally woke up?”
“Hey.” Black Samson had stood, put two hands on his shoulders. “I’m gonna need you to slow down there.” To Rex’ surprise, Samson’s face didn’t hold any aggression towards him. Huh. Usually when they interacted it was chilly at best, due to their constant sniping and conflicting morals. But this was the first time Rex had actually been upset in a while, and maybe the old man had sensed that.
Rex sighed. “There’s finally someone out there who’s a bigger asshole than me, and it’s Omni-Man. You know Invincible’s his son? Well, apparently they’ve been training, and it gets, and I quote, “A little rough.” And that's why he was laying on our floor for half the night.”
“Well damn.” Samson seemed slightly startled.
“ That’s what I said.”
“At least that explains how the kid’s so strong. What is he, 18-19?”
“He’s younger than Eve, I’m pretty sure. Which by the way, she’s here. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go set something on fire.”
***
As soon as he was able, Rex walked very quickly (fled) from the room to go to the training facility, leaving Samson behind to finish his book. The halls were long and dark and seemed more suited to a villain’s base than a heroes, but why was he complaining? Just to have something to do other than to think about Omni-Man’s horrible parenting? Unfortunately, before he could explode anything, he found none other than the capital Idiot standing in his way.
“I’m not apologizing,” Rex said out of reflex.
“I didn’t ask you to.” Invincible stood with a slightly pained hunch to his shoulders. Rex said nothing, and the silence stretched on. Invincible looked better than he had even from the moment he appeared in the hallway, and Rex was only a little jealous of that healing factor.
“Look I know we aren’t exactly… friends.” Rex snorted. Invincible continued, apparently ignoring him. “But can I ask you to do something for me?”
“That depends on what it is.”
“Can you just. Not talk about my dad. I know, I know. He’s not like he used to be. Ever since I got my powers… well. You don’t really care about that. And that’s not what I’m supposed to be talking about.”
“Let’s just both move on from whatever that was.”
“Yeah, yeah. Right. It’s just… I don’t think I can handle anything else at this moment. I don’t even want to think about him right now. So if you could not talk about this whole,” He gestured vaguely, “thing, that would be absolutely fantastic.”
“Sure.” He had nothing else to lose.
“Man I really didn’t expect you to agree that easily.”
Rex shrugged. “What can I say. I guess I’m not as much of an asshole as I thought.”
Finally, a crooked smile played across Invincible’s face. “Thanks.”
“Don’t mention it. Ever.”
“Okay, okay.”
“I’m serious. Don’t.”
“Ugh. Fine.”
“Better.”
Rex stood with his arms crossed, watching Invincible walk away. He hoped Omni-Man returned to not-number-one-asshole mode. He’d hate to have to fight for the crown.