Successor

[3rd POV]

Angstrom Levy stands in a hidden laboratory, surrounded by the Mauler Twins and an array of high-tech equipment. He's in the middle of an experiment—one that will make him smarter than anyone alive. 

"Time to make the donuts," Angstrom said.

"Well, I think I speak on behalf of both of us to say that it's been an honor to work on this project alongside you, Angstrom Levy." One of the mauler twins said.

"This project proves that it is the highest-ranking project that we have ever undertaken. To think that in mere moments, we would download the memories of thousands of your doppelgangers from other dimensions in order to give you the ability to shift from one dimension to the other with the full knowledge of where you're going." One of the twins continued. "We may be changing the course of human history across the multiverse. We're ready when you are."

"Give me a moment to link our system to our sister dimensions, don't worry, it will only take a moment, after that you may proceed," Levy told them.

"That's affirmative," one of them said, as he activated the machine shortly after Levy completed the system link.

BOOM!

Mark crashed through the facility doors. "Seriously? An evil science experiment? In the middle of the day? You gotta work on your scheduling, dude."

"Stop him! The machine must not be stopped at all costs." Levy shouted at the twins.

"Don't worry, we fought this clown before." They told him.

"That was me without training, dude. Unfair. Let's see if it goes the same way as it did."

POW!

They flew into the wall behind them, "See? New tricks." He told them.

He seized both of their heads, colliding them violently before launching them through the ceiling.

"YOU THINK THEY DID THIS ON THEIR OWN?!" Levy shouted at Mark as he opened a portal.

Mark looked at the dozens of the Mauler Twins, rushing out of the portal. "Fuck..."

[1st POV]

"Ey, Eve, You saw that new show? They just dropped the season one, called Shrimp Game. They say it's pretty good, it's on Betflix, wanna binge it later?" I asked her. 

"Shrimp Game? It was that K-Drama, no? Heard it's breaking records." She told me.

I nodded, "Pretty fucking fun, it seems." I added.

"You seen Mark today?" I asked.

"No, why?" She asked. Unusual, neither of us met him today, it seemed like a disaster in the making. Just an omen, right?

Eve furrowed her brow, clearly sharing my unease. "Mark's usually around by now," she said, arms crossed. "Maybe he's out on patrol?"

"Maybe," I told her.

"Shit, our apartment's nearby, and I forgot to buy the goddamn eggs. Wait here." I told her before waltzing off. 

I sighed, shaking my head as I turned into the store. The automatic doors slid open, and I made a beeline for the dairy aisle.

I grabbed the eggs. Paid for the eggs. Walked out with the eggs.

Crisis averted.

Buzz. I looked at my phone, it was a message, from Mark. 

"KAITO! Help me, bro! There's like a fucking hundred of the Mauler twins. Come to my location, ASAP!" I read the message, and I then looked at the tagged location.

I stared at the screen. Then at the eggs. Then back at the screen.

"Son of a bitch," I muttered.

I bolted down the street, clutching the grocery bag like it was precious cargo. As much as I wanted to drop everything and fly straight to Mark, I just paid for these eggs, and Eve was waiting.

Priorities.

I landed in front of Eve, slightly out of breath. She raised an eyebrow. "Took you long enough. You good?"

I held up the eggs. "Mission accomplished."

Then I shoved my phone in her face. "But also, problem."

She read the message, her expression darkening. "Hundreds of Mauler Twins?"

"Yeah. Mark's probably getting his ass kicked right now."

She didn't even hesitate. "Let's go."

I barely had time to put the eggs in her hands before she grabbed my wrist, and in a flash of pink energy, we were gone. 

"Sheesh, you can fly me there, why waste my energy?" I told her.

Eve shot me a look mid-flight, her pink aura crackling around us. "Because you're the one who made me wait while you bought eggs."

"Fair." I clutched the grocery bag tighter. "But if this breaks, I'm blaming you."

"yeah, yeah."

As we neared the industrial district, the chaos became clearer. Smoke billowed from shattered buildings, sirens wailed in the distance, and the sound of fists meeting flesh echoed through the streets. In the middle of it all, Mark was fighting for his life, dodging blows from what looked like an army of Mauler Twins.

"Oh, shit," I muttered. "That's way more than a hundred."

Eve wasted no time. She shot forward, blasting one of the Maulers off Mark with a concentrated burst of energy. "Mark! You good?"

Mark, mid-air, barely avoiding a Mauler's punch, turned to see us. "Oh, hey! You guys took your time!" He grunted as he grabbed a Mauler by the arm, spun him around, and flung him into a pile of his clones. "I was starting to think I'd have to handle this alone."

"Relax," I called out, setting the eggs down on a nearby rooftop. "Your backup just arrived."

Then I cracked my knuckles. "Let's clean this up."

"Been a long day," I muttered as I slid at the group. 

But, just then, I stopped inertia for them. "Wait!" I told Eve and Mark.

"Am I allowed to kill them?"

Mark and Eve both hesitated for a split second, exchanging quick glances.

"Uh… I mean," Mark started, ducking under a Mauler's punch before countering with a brutal uppercut. "They're clones, right? But like, people clones?"

Eve, mid-flight, created a massive energy barrier to block a wave of incoming Maulers. "We should try to knock them out first. Killing should be a last resort."

I sighed. "So that's a no?"

Mark threw another Mauler into a dumpster. "That's a try not to, at least!" 

"Okay, that's fair," I muttered. I looked at them, as I gripped the nearest Mauler by the collar and hurled him into another like a human bowling ball. "Guess I'll have to settle for breaking bones instead."

One second, I was slamming a Mauler into the ground—then the world wrenched sideways. My stomach lurched as an invisible force yanked me into a swirling portal of color. Air rushed past my ears, the battlefield vanishing behind me in an instant. Gravity stopped making sense. Up was down. Down was nowhere.

"You're a problem," Levy's voice echoed around me. "I don't like problems."

"Yeah? Well, I don't like getting kidnapped mid-fight, so I guess we're even," I muttered, even though I wasn't sure if he could hear me.

I twisted midair, trying to orient myself, but gravity wasn't playing fair. Up was down, down was sideways, and my stomach was somewhere in another dimension.

Okay, think. Levy can portal-hop, which means this is his domain. I needed to flip the script.

I reached out with my power, locking onto the fundamental rule screwing me over. Law of Gravity—positive.

Suddenly, my body stopped falling, freezing in midair like someone had hit pause.

"Better," I exhaled.

Now, where the hell was I? The space around me was… chaotic. Infinite versions of buildings, and skies flickered in and out like bad TV signals.

Distantly, I could hear fighting—Mark and Eve were still holding the line back in our reality. I needed to get back.

I focused.

As if the distance was not there, everything warped. One second, I was stranded in the multiversal abyss—the next, I was back, standing exactly where I'd been before Levy snatched me.

Mark blinked, mid-swing against a Mauler. "Did—did you just teleport?"

I dusted off my jacket. "Something like that."

"Wait, could you always do that?" he asked me.

I paused. "Oh shit, I swear I fucking couldn't," I told him.

"You insufferable—"

I cracked my knuckles, grinning. "Round two?"

Levy's eyes flickered with something between frustration and calculation. He wasn't stupid—he had just seen me cheat his trap like it was nothing. That meant he had two options: double down or cut his losses.

The bastard doubled down. 

"Yep, sorry," I told him as I walked towards the machine to shut it down. 

"No!" He shouted.

"Angstrom, the process can't be interrupted. There's no telling what happens if it goes wrong!" One of the Maulers said. 

As soon as he reached his hand towards me. BOOM!

The machine exploded.

A shockwave of energy ripped through the lab, warping reality itself. Space cracked like shattered glass, and for a split second, I saw everything—dozens of worlds overlapping, versions of myself flickering in and out of existence, Levy's face twisted in agony as the surge of knowledge overloaded him.

Then, it all collapsed. I quickly reinforced my durability as a blast of energy threw me across the room. As the dust settled, I looked beside me, ashes of the Maulers. They were completely disintegrated. Okay, lesson learned, alright. No more fucking around from now on.

The explosion had wrecked the lab—wires sparked, metal beams groaned under the weight of the collapse, and reality itself seemed to waver for a moment before settling again. I groaned, pushing myself up from the rubble, my ears still ringing.

Mark coughed, shaking off debris. "Okay, that was definitely not how I expected that to go."

Eve floated down next to me, her energy flickering as she surveyed the scene. "Is he…?"

I turned my head. Levy was still there, but he wasn't Levy anymore. He was...disfigured.

The top of his head was completely gone, replaced by raw, exposed brain matter that pulsed and shifted like something alive. Veins stretched unnaturally across his skull, twitching with every micro-movement as if his brain was struggling to contain the flood of multiversal knowledge now crammed into it. His scalp was burned away, leaving only a grotesque, pulsating mess.

Levy staggered, barely able to stay on his feet. His breath came in ragged gasps, his fingers twitching like a malfunctioning machine. "Too much…" he muttered, his voice breaking into overlapping tones. "Too much."

Mark grimaced. "Holy shit."

Eve covered her mouth. "What… what happened to him?"

Levy's eyes darted around wildly.

"You…" He locked onto me. "You shouldn't exist like this."

I tensed. "The fuck you mean?" 

"You're not there anywhere else apart from this reality!"

I blinked. "What?"

Mark and Eve both turned to me, confusion flashing across their faces. "What does that mean?" Eve asked.

Levy stumbled forward, clutching his exposed brain, his breath coming in ragged gasps. His entire body twitched unnaturally like he was struggling to hold himself together. "You don't exist in any other dimension!" he repeated, his voice distorting like a corrupted recording. "Every timeline. Every alternate reality. Every possible outcome. No matter how deep I look—you're just not there!"

I felt a chill creep up my spine. That couldn't be right. The multiverse was infinite. There were versions of Mark, Eve, Nolan, and even the Mauler Twins scattered across countless worlds. But me?

Just one?

"You're lying," I said, my voice steadier than I felt. "That's impossible. There are infinite fucking possibilities and you say I'm the only one."

Levy laughed. "You think I would lie about this? I'm seeing everything. And you're a goddamn anomaly!" His fingers dug into his skull like he was trying to stop his own thoughts. "You shouldn't be here!"

Mark clenched his fists. "And why does that matter?"

Levy's gaze snapped to him, his expression flickering between a snarl and pure horror. "Because something put him here."

I widened my eyes.

Levy just fried his own brain getting an all-you-can-eat buffet of multiversal knowledge, and the first thing he notices is me? Out of all the infinite possibilities, I don't exist anywhere else. Not even once?

That's not just weird. That's wrong.

I swallowed, trying to shake off the creeping unease crawling up my spine. "So, what? You saying I just popped into existence one day?"

Levy's body twitched violently. 

"You weren't there," he whispered. "And now you are."

Mark narrowed his eyes. "You're not making any sense."

Levy let out a sharp, broken laugh. "Of course, I'm not!" His voice cracked, layered with a dozen echoes of itself. "You think this is just some random fluke?! Someone—something—put him here."

I took a step back, pulse hammering. "Who? My mom?" I joked, trying to ease the tension.

Levy's body convulsed again. His breath hitched, and for a second, I thought he might drop dead right there. 

"I don't know," he hissed. "I can see everything—but not that. Not you." His fingers clenched into fists, nails digging into his own skin hard enough to draw blood. "There's a gap. A blind spot. Something's blocking me."

That was… not comforting.

Eve spoke up. "If you don't know, then stop guessing. You overloaded your mind. You're unstable."

Levy's gaze snapped to her. "Unstable?" Another sharp, static-laced laugh. "Oh, I'm more than that, little girl." He turned back to me, his pupils dilating like black holes. "I'm aware."

Then, he lunged.

I barely had time to react. One second he was in front of me—then suddenly, he wasn't.

He flickered. Reality stuttered.

Then he swung.

I caught his fist with both hands—

—And suddenly, my head exploded.

Not literally.

But for a split second, I saw.

I saw a million versions of myself that should exist. Different lives. Different choices.

Except—

There was nothing. No alternate versions. No branching paths.

Just me.

And something else.

Something watching.

"ANGSTROM! Answer me! What the fuck are you talking about?"

"You—" His voice cracked, breaking into a dozen layered whispers. "You're wrong."

"There's always some version," he gasped. "A weak one. A strong one. A hero. A villain. A failure. Something. But you—" He grit his teeth. "Nothing. Almost as if you're a... successor."

Successor?

I exhaled sharply, forcing myself to stay calm. "You're not making any sense," I told him. "Try again. Slowly."

"I can't explain it because it doesn't make sense!" He yanked his hand free and stumbled back. "You're not an anomaly because you shouldn't exist. You're an anomaly because something put you here—something outside the multiverse itself."

Then—he screamed.

"Shit—!" I lunged forward, but it was too late.

With a final, distorted cry, Angstrom Levy vanished.

Gone.

No body. No dust. No portal. Just erased.

"Shit, what the fuck's happening?!" I looked around as my whole world came full circle. I started as fucked, and now, I'm pretty sure I'm fucked.

I exhaled sharply, forcing my pulse to slow. "So. That happened."

Eve snapped her gaze to me. "That's all you have to say?"

"What, you want a eulogy?" I shot back. "Here lies Angstrom Levy, professional asshole, who melted his own brain with too much multiversal knowledge."

"I should've called Thokk to deal with this bullshit."