He has a girlfriend...
Those few words brought complete silence to the cafeteria. If this had happened with anyone else, it wouldn't have escalated. But this weird drama now involved Johnny and Susan Storm.
Sue froze when she heard that, but only for a moment. Then she turned toward Allen and stared at him silently with those deep blue eyes—indecipherable, mysterious, and maybe even dangerous.
Allen, for his part, remained calm despite the situation, though he could definitely feel the strange tension in the air.
Johnny clenched his teeth and stayed back, immediately realizing the stupidity of what he'd just said. He cursed himself, this wasn't the plan. He hadn't meant to reveal the truth like this. In fact, if he'd wanted to expose Allen, he'd had countless opportunities to do so over the weekend at home. But he hadn't for two reasons.
The first reason? He wanted to beat Allen up himself... which didn't really make sense, but then again, this Johnny wasn't exactly known for being the smartest guy around.
The second reason was Sue Storm. As much as he hated the idea of that cheating bastard Allen being with his sister, he didn't want to hurt her or make her cry. His plan had been to beat Allen up and threaten him until he broke up with Sue. The pain of a breakup, Johnny figured, was better than the pain of betrayal. But things didn't go according to plan.
The cafeteria wasn't packed, but there were still enough students around to spread the word about the school's most famous couple. Everyone loves chaos, so of course some jerk had told Johnny that his sister was flirting with some guy in the cafeteria. He ran straight there, only to find the guy he currently hated most in the world all cozy at a table with Sue.
To Jonhny, his sister and that bastard were the most intimate couple at the moment, although they only joked and laughed together.
Johnny couldn't take it, and ended up blurting out everything.
...
Allen took a sip of water and raised an eyebrow. It was strange, but somehow he'd ended up being the villain in this story… or something like that.
He scanned the cafeteria—ten people were recording, while the rest just watched, waiting for a response. But Allen didn't care about any of them. There was no need to explain anything. That was until he saw Sue's eyes—those eyes that didn't seem to ask anything but were impossible to ignore.
Allen set down his bottle, met Sue's gaze, and spoke without hesitation.
"It's true. I have a girlfriend."
Allen, in fact, has several women (girlfriends and lovers), but that was irrelevant to the current situation.
His words echoed through the cafeteria, freezing the air and holding everyone's breath.
"..." Sue listened in silence. She didn't appear affected, but for a few seconds, she didn't move. People were expecting Sue to explode; to scream, slap Allen, curse at him, or maybe even burst into tears. But none of that happened.
"..."
Allen stayed quiet, earning the crowd's hatred—after all, he had just outed himself as trash (in their eyes). But what Sue did next left everyone speechless.
She sat back down at the table, opened a little yogurt, and continued eating slowly and silently.
"Huh?"
Everyone was confused—especially Johnny, who instinctively stepped forward.
"Sis?"
"What?"
"Did you hear me? Did you hear him?"
"Yeah, I did..."
"Then why?!"
Sue lifted her eyes—but didn't look at Johnny. She looked at Allen, who returned her gaze.
"I don't see why that should bother me..."
Sue blinked, tilted her head, and smiled slightly.
Johnny stared at his sister's smile in disbelief.
"That's insane! How can you date someone like him?!"
Allen shot Johnny a side glance, full of disdain as if he were looking at a stupid kid.
"We're not dating."
Johnny froze—along with everyone else. What? They weren't dating? No one could understand how that was possible. They spent most of the day together, talked, laughed, joked... how could they not be dating?
Allen finally understood the root of all this drama—and chuckled.
It made sense that everyone assumed he was dating Sue.
After all, Gwen, MJ, and Felicia didn't want to draw attention to themselves, so they constantly used the spell. But Sue wasn't under that spell, which meant Allen wasn't hidden by it either, at least not entirely. People could "see" him, but they couldn't quite recognize him; like his hair was always covering his face.
People weren't blind. They could clearly see how beautiful the three girls were. But the spell made them unable to process thoughts about them beyond a superficial level. The spell had less effect during regular interactions, so the girls could still have friends, but for the most part, they stayed out of the spotlight.
With all that in play, it made it look like Allen was dating Sue—since she was the only "noticeable" pretty girl around him.
Johnny dropped to his knees, clutching his head, realizing that he'd never actually asked Sue if she was dating Allen.
...
Eventually, the two finished eating and left the cafeteria together. They both ignored Johnny who was still kneeling.
Sue tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and looked at Allen with a tired expression.
"I'm really sorry about what my stupid brother did… I'll scold him when we get home. Let me know if it bothers you."
"Don't worry about it. I'm used to stupid kids."
Allen smirked, glancing sideways at her.
Seeing that Allen wasn't upset made Sue feel better. After a while, the two parted ways, and Allen went to meet up with MJ and Gwen—who most likely already knew what had happened.
Makima – I'm impressed...
Albedo – This is strange. I could've sworn she was already in love. Actually—how dare that insignificant girl not fall for my master?!
Jalter – What a psycho....She gets mad if a girl even looks at him, and now she's mad if they don't?
Albedo – SHUT UP!
Bocchi – M-Maybe she's h-hiding her feelings...
Rebecca – Tsk. If that's the case, she's the greatest actress of all time—she fooled all of us.
Kurumi – Maybe she just doesn't like the Master that way... is that really such an impossible concept?
The girls fell silent for a moment... then burst out laughing. Kurumi, annoyed, vanished with a "Hmph."
As for Allen, he had no comment.
He'd never tried to win Sue over—not because he didn't find her beautiful or attractive, but because he wasn't looking for a girlfriend.
Though, being the bastard he was, he never really closed the door either.
...
Sue arrived home as usual, though this time she went straight to her room without doing any homework and lay silently on her bed. As she stared at the ceiling, several pictures of her "friend" were scattered above. She wasn't stupid or mentally unstable—Sue knew perfectly well that she acted differently around Allen, that she felt comfortable, that she genuinely enjoyed his company.
She understood that her relationship with Allen was something new to her, something she had never experienced before. And that filled her with uncertainty... and, at the same time, with anticipation.
"Girlfriend?..."
Sue turned to face the wall, her eyes like glass reflecting the light. This guy had entered her life and taken up space without asking permission. But she didn't feel in love... or at least, that's what she thought.
"I already knew..."
The spell didn't work on Sue Storm. It didn't work because her gaze always, always wandered to Allen whenever he was in sight. So, she saw him with his "girlfriend" who she identified as a beautiful redhead.
Sue didn't feel sad about the fact that Allen had a girlfriend, which now made her doubt whether her feelings were even love.
It was true that she looked forward to seeing Allen again, with a sense of fun and excitement. But that was because she'd never felt this comfortable around anyone else. That kind of connection could mean love—or it could be an infinite ocean away from it.
Sue sat up, grabbed a photograph of Allen, and stared at it thoughtfully... but in the end, she came to the conclusion that she didn't love him. If she did, she'd be hurting right now—but she wasn't. She still looked forward to tomorrow, just to hang out and joke around with him again.
Sue smiled having clarified her feelings... right?
At that moment she blinked and found herself standing with bloody hands, in front of her was a girl's head, Sue was startled and blinked again appearing in if room with no blood at all.
"What?" She sat up in her bed confused.
...
(At night)
In the middle of New York, an explosion brought down a building full of people.
"We have to stop this!" Thor shouted to Tony as they both hovered in the air, watching the destruction unfold.
"Damn it! It's all because of that girl with the mecha who detonated her robot's core!" Tony flew toward the explosion, releasing fire suppressant foam from his suit to put out the flames.
Dr. Strange searched for survivors, while on the ground, a Japanese girl in a suit was moving debris with her exosuit.
– Low backup power –
"No, no, no, no! I didn't mean for this to happen! The control of my suit was hijacked for a moment!"
She lifted a large slab of concrete from the rubble. Underneath it, a mother and daughter were huddled together. They were safe, and as soon as they could move, they hugged each other tightly. The girl—whose name was Penny—stepped out of her Spiderman-style mech and fell to her knees, bursting into tears.
Tony floated silently, then gave a hand signal for withdrawal.
"This round ends in a draw..." he muttered.
It might've seemed cold, but this "war" wasn't really a war—no one was dying. Not civilians, not even their opponents. But the destruction of buildings, homes, streets, vehicles, and infrastructure? That was all very real.
But what was causing this? Why were heroes from different worlds fighting?
It all started with one man: Victor Von Doom. In every universe where Dr. Doom exists, he inevitably craves power. He's known for stealing power from beings like Dr. Strange or Morgan le Fay, even cosmic entities like Galactus—or the Beyonder himself.
In this strange world, Dr. Doom was no exception. After creating the most powerful mutant with Electro, that being was then possessed by none other than Dr. Manhattan. Even though they came from different multiverses, somehow, absurdly, this happened. Perhaps because the universe Allen was born into is unique. Perhaps because this Victor, like his Reed Richards, was also unique... But the truth is, Dr. Doom gained access to Dr. Manhattan's power.
Of course, it came at a cost. Victor nearly died as his skin melted and fused with experimental metal, giving him a robotic appearance. But he didn't care.
He was determined to wield the power of Dr. Manhattan—a power that would make him practically a god. Fortunately for him, Electro's body became a prison for Dr. Manhattan, limiting his powers.
With that in mind, Dr. Doom began executing his plan to steal that power, taking advantage of Allen's planned departure from this world. His plan moved forward slowly. He built a machine capable of extracting Dr. Manhattan's power. Remember what the mad Reed was capable of? This Doom had similar intellect and resources. Everything was going to go perfectly—before Allen returned.
What he didn't anticipate, though, was that another Dr. Doom from Earth-2099 was experimenting with magic to gain control over time.
Dr. Doom 2099 managed to glimpse into other universes through magic and discovered this world—and his other self, who was about to become a god. Jealousy and greed consumed him, and of course, he intervened.
The arrival of a variant from another universe caught Allen's Doom off guard. This other Doom had magic, and there was no way to stop him. In desperation, Allen's Doom attempted to blow up the machine... but—
"Wait!" the Dr. Doom 2099 stopped his variant. "If you destroy it, you'll not only release this 'being'—you'll lose the power of omnipotence!"
"I, Victor Von Doom, refuse to let anyone else be omnipotent!"
"I know. That's why... we should settle this another way."
Both Dooms could read each other's minds and decided not to fight to the death. Instead, they'd compete—using champions from different universes. With Dr. Manhattan's power, it was possible.
...
There are all kinds of Spider-Men across the multiverse—pigs, cats, ducks, dinosaurs, you name it.
In one universe, Spider-Man is a mechanical mecha suit. Here, Peter Parker was replaced by a girl named Penny Parker. She pilots the Spider-Man suit after losing her father in a tragic canon event. But her misfortune didn't end there...
"..." Penny knelt beside the shattered black mecha suit, her empty stare saying it all.
Just as there was a Spider-Man mecha, there was also a Venom mecha. But over time it acquired a consciousness of its own... and consumed its pilot—Abby. And it didn't stop there. Penny's Aunt May tried to fix it... and she, too, was consumed by the suit.
Just as Penny was breaking down, a portal opened above her.
"Do you want to get your family back?"
"Really?!"
"Anything is possible if you fight for me!" said Dr. Doom to a desperate girl.
...
Dr. Doom was a manipulative bastard—and sometimes incredibly cruel. Just like Penny, the two Dooms began recruiting champions(Peons) from other universes, ones where superheroes or villains had lost loved ones and were willing to do anything to bring them back.
Of course, this didn't go unnoticed. Fury, Tony, and Cap realized what was happening and tried to put an end to the madness, turning this into a three-sided war. Knowing it was impossible to stop both Victors, Tony proposed a deal: there would be a competition for Dr. Manhattan's power—but killing was strictly forbidden. No civilians, no killing between champions.
The local Doom agreed, and after showing his other self the reasoning behind it, the 2099 Doom agreed too. Using Dr. Manhattan's power, civilians were protected from harm.
What was originally going to be a massacre turned into some kind of competition, a game, or a tournament—with godlike power as the prize.
It wasn't a war—it was Marvel Rivals...
Allen had no idea this was happening, but...
...
(Allen's Apartment)
A distant explosion echoed through the city. Allen watched it from his window while sipping a cup of coffee. Behind him, Felicia and MJ were playing cards on the floor—though Felicia was absolutely destroying MJ.
"Hey, are you sure you don't want to get involved?~" Felicia got up and walked over to Allen, hugging him and pressing her warm body against his.
"Tsk, I almost won," MJ pouted, then smiled flirtatiously as she walked over to Allen and grabbed his arm. "I could help... if you'd let me~"
Allen hadn't allowed the three girls to get involved because there was some strange force mixed into these incidents. Besides...
"There's no need... there are no casualties..." Allen narrowed his eyes, gazing into the distance. No matter how many times he asked the system, the answer was always the same: no victims. Only material damage—damage that Tony and SHIELD covered.
In that case, Allen—who still wasn't officially a superhero—had no reason to step in. Not unless it started to affect him directly.
Felicia slid her hands down Allen's torso until her caresses reached their destination. MJ, her cheeks red, didn't want to be left behind and kissed Allen's neck.
Allen had another reason not to get involved. The Invincible world had burned him out on multiversal drama, and since this wasn't an apocalyptic threat, he preferred to stay out of it—as long as things stayed the same.
Makima – Looks like your friend Tony already recruited more superheroes to help him...
Esdeath – People need to learn not to rely on you for everything...
Artoria – I think you should stay out of it too. Not every problem is yours to fix. Actually, you're not obligated to fix anything.
Harley – Daddy, the funniest part is that some TV networks are airing it like a reality show!
Nokotan – Nun, it's actually pretty fun to watch~
Allen held his forehead, but he couldn't complain—he was the one who first broadcasted superpowered fights.
"No matter" He wrapped his arms around both girls' waists, headed to his room, and decided to ignore everything else.
"Allen?~"
"Hehe~"
"As long as the world doesn't get destroyed..." Allen thought, right before kissing MJ and caressing Felicia.
"Ah~"
"Hm... wait~"