Inconceivable Ch. 30 (Invincible AU) (Patreon)

(Every character depicted in the story below is a consenting legal adult over the age of 18)

A/N: Argan is a little baffled… so he decides to go to a ‘reliable’ source of human knowledge.

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Just when Argan thinks he might be starting to get something of a handle on how humans worked… he’s left just as baffled as ever. His conversation with the human woman Holly Haven had clearly gone awry at some point because while she had clearly propositioned him at the end there, she also hadn’t given him enough time to offer his agreement before departing.

Why would he need to ‘consider her proposal’? Wasn’t having her in his bed and bearing his children exactly what Argan wanted? Then again, why had he not answered her immediately? Why had he taken so long to reply that she’d been able to slip completely out of his grasp?

… Ultimately, he found himself at a loss. Her concerns were nonsensical to him. Why would she give up her current position of power and leadership when she could just demand their obedience? Would these people at the top of her ‘company’ really deny her their loyalty if she confronted them all directly?

Argan considers his own people and can’t entirely fathom it. Not a single Viltrumite had rebelled against him since he’d taken over as Grand Regent. Not unless you counted Conquest… but to be honest, Argan didn’t count the older Viltrumite. Conquest, now Carl, had only fought Argan because he’d hoped that Argan would kill him. He hadn’t rebelled; he’d attempted to commit suicide by forcing Argan’s hand.

It hadn’t worked, obviously. And even when some had been ready to protest Argan’s decisions for their people, a simple display of his power had been enough to force them to bow to his superiority.

Now admittedly Holly wasn’t nearly as powerful as Argan was. Her strength and speed put her below even the weakest of the remaining Viltrumites that Argan had brought to Earth. She was faster and stronger than Maya, but that was about it.

And yet… he highly doubted any of the other humans in her command structure were as strong or stronger than she was. None of them could possibly hope to challenge her power or defeat her in battle. So why? Why were they allowed to get away with subverting her purpose? Why did she let them twist and corrupt her goals?

She wanted to make her world a better place. Argan could understand that. But then why was she holding herself back so much?

… He eats the rest of the food, of course. The place she’s left him in, a ‘restaurant’, continues to serve him for quite some time as a matter of fact. Argan eats everything put in front of him, including multiple Beef Wellingtons along with several other ‘dishes’ meant to go with it.

All of it is delicious. Earth has some of the best food that Argan has ever had… and he suspects given the sheer number of polities across the planet, there are just as many types of food. The variance of the human race is something Argan still struggles to come to terms with. Just when he thinks he understands humans better, they turn out to be increasingly complex.

Still, eventually the food stops coming and Argan rises to depart. Nobody tries to bar his way but as he leaves the restaurant behind and stands there outside of the building, Argan finds himself… torn. He actually doesn’t know where to go next.

Should he return to Anissa, perhaps? He could tell her of the day’s occurrences and the meal he’d had with Holly and see what she thought about everything the human woman had said. Of course, the obvious issue with that was Anissa was just as ignorant to humans as he was… if not more so.

She’d had no reason to interact with humans so far, after all. As his already pregnant mate, she was doing her duty and much like Carl, she was exempt from the rotation of warriors that Cecil and the GDA had at their disposal.

… Hm. Now there was an idea. Argan slowly turns his head to the side, until he’s looking directly at one of the cameras directed his way from a ‘hidden’ surveillance team watching his every movement. The GDA had such teams tailing him at almost every moment of the day save for when he was on Flaxa. He assumed they were doing the same for the rest of his people as well.

Had they overheard Holly’s proposal in the restaurant though? Or was her proposal all just a ploy by Cecil Stedman himself? A test of Argan’s ‘loyalty’. Well, Cecil needn’t resort to such tests. Argan’s loyalty was to his people and his people only. All the other man had to do was ask and Argan could have told him that.

In fact… maybe he would.

In an instant, Argan has crossed the intervening distance between himself and the surveillance team. Those outside of the nondescript vehicle they’re using for their operations are invisible, jolting into action upon finally registering his approach.

Argan pays them no mind though, simply grabbing the door of the van and yanking it open with a light screech of metal. Inside, a terrified looking human blubbers at him almost immediately.

“-not my fault, I was just following orders!”

Does he think Argan is about to kill him? Scoffing, he shakes his head.

“Cease your sniveling, worm. Inform your Director I am coming to visit him in his office and to stand ready for my arrival.”

Argan is exceedingly patient as he waits for his words to register. Humans are so… slow sometimes, so he gives several long seconds for the whimpering coward to process what he's said. Finally, eyes wide, the human nods energetically.

“I’ll do that, I promise!”

Snorting derisively, Argan lets go of the van door, still ignoring the invisible strike team levering invisible rifles in his direction.

“Good.”

And then he’s gone, going straight up into the air and then flying straight for GDA Headquarters for his ‘chat’ with Cecil Stedman.

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Perhaps now is when he dies. Standing there in his office, waiting for Argan’s arrival, Cecil’s lips are thinned out. He always knew that surveilling the Viltrumites was risky. However, not surveilling them, especially when there were forty-three of them on his planet now, had seemed like an even worse proposition.

Catching them in the act if they decided to commit some grotesque crime against humanity or even catching any possible weaknesses while they did battle… both were excellent reasons in support of surveillance. Of course, the flip side was that once they found out, they might decide to pull his spine out through his throat.

It’s barely been ten seconds since the warning came, and yet one moment Cecil is alone… and the next he’s not. Argan appears in front of him at a speed Cecil’s poor human eyes cannot track… hell, even his office’s security only belatedly catches Argan’s presence.

“Intruder detected.”

“Stand down, for fuck’s sake.”

“Acknowledged.”

Cecil sighs and looks Argan right in the eye.

“I suppose you’re probably upset.”

… Only for Argan to blink and furrow his brow in confusion.

“No? Why would I be upset?”

What? Cecil furrows his brow, a little bit caught off guard by the Viltrumite’s response. What did he mean by that? Was he not here because of the surveillance? He’d literally scared the surveillance team shitless less than three minutes ago though.

“… Why are you here, exactly?”

Tilting his head to the side, Argan considers him for a moment before replying.

“How much of my meal with War Woman were you privy to?”

“All of it.”

That was a lie, of course. If they’d known where War Woman was taking Argan ahead of time they might have been able to insert a bug, but unfortunately that hadn’t been an option. They’d just barely managed to get a surveillance team to the restaurant in time through extrapolating flight patterns and some risky teleportation.

Once there however, their microphones couldn’t actually penetrate the building’s private rooms… War Woman had likely chosen it specifically for that particular privacy and security feature.

Of course, Argan doesn’t need to know that. And for Cecil, lying to a potential threat was as simple for him as breathing.

Argan… just nods. Like he expected it. Which means he knew they’d been surveilling him and his people but didn’t know the limits of their abilities.

“You and yours know we’ve been watching you, don’t we? You’ve known all along.”

Argan barely hesitates, simply inclining his head in agreement.

“Yes.”

Cecil waits a beat, expecting Argan to say more. When the other man remains silent, he just snorts derisively.

“You’re a strange one, Argan.”

The words seemingly wash over the alien without any effect. Argan simply continues to watch Cecil.

“Tell me, was this a test? Did you tell War Woman to offer me a deal separate from the deal made with the GDA in order to see if I took it?”

She’d done what? Cecil very carefully doesn’t outwardly react, but inwardly… tch, he needed to know what exactly Argan and War Woman had talked about in that restaurant.

“It wasn’t a test. War Woman had no idea that we were watching the two of you. What she said to you… was of her own volition.”

There. Safe enough. Argan certainly seems to buy it, because he nods.

“I see. And if I were to agree to her terms? If I were to give her Viltrumite technology so that she might start anew and build off of it in order to rival her competitors? What would you and the GDA say to such a thing?”

… That was what War Woman had asked for? Cecil can’t even truly hide his shock this time, so he tries to make it seem like he’s more surprised Argan is even asking for his opinion than anything else. Which to be fair… he is.

“Do you really even care what I think?”

Meanwhile, internally Cecil is reeling. He’d known from some of his analysts that War Woman, aka Holly Haven in her civilian identity, was currently involved in a cold war-esque power struggle with the Board of Directors of her company. Her altruistic intentions were being overshadowed by the greed and money grubbing tendencies of the people she’d brought on to help her run her business.

He’d had no idea it got bad enough for her to consider jumping ship and starting all over with a new company though. Then again, it was entirely possible she was only even considering the possibility because of the potential that the arrival of the Viltrumites provided.

As a Guardian, War Woman was privy to the advancements the Viltrumites had shared with the GDA so far, most of which were medical in nature… and she was certainly smart enough to recognize what Cecil and his researchers had already figured out. Namely that the Viltrumites were clearly holding out on them and had a lot more technology that they weren’t sharing just yet.

Argan arches a brow at Cecil’s question.

“We have an arrangement, do we not? My people appreciate the services that your Global Defense Agency has provided us so far. At the same time… there is much that War Woman can offer as well. And she is already one of yours, no? So if I were to make a separate deal with her… it would not necessarily harm the GDA.”

… The Viltrumite was like a toddler at playing politics. Cecil had never seen such a powerful being tottering through the mental gymnastics to reach the point he wanted to reach before. He was literally explaining his thought processes out loud for fuck’s sake.

Did they not have subterfuge and backroom dealing on Viltrum? Did they have any politics whatsoever? So far, everything that Cecil and his surveillance teams had seen pointed to Argan being the supreme leader of this expedition. Every other Viltrumite obeyed him without question, showing absolutely no signs of dissent. If there was disagreement, it was happening over on Flaxa, where so far the Global Defense Agency hadn’t been able to get a proper presence.

That all said… Cecil just sighs.

“So long as you keep us in the loop, the GDA will not take offense to you and War Woman working together. There will need to be some limits, however. If you introduce too much Viltrumite Technology to Earth too fast, you’ll destabilize things.”

When Argan just stares blankly back at Cecil for a moment, Cecil huffs.

“You’ll expose yourselves.”

That gets through to the extremely powerful alien. He can tell. See, that’s something every analyst agrees upon so far. Argan and his people, the Viltrumites… they aren’t nearly as altruistic as they seem at a glance. Really, there’s absolutely no reason they came to Earth in peace with their hands extended in friendship.

Even their stated purpose here, that being to breed a new generation of Viltrumites off of human partners, could easily have been forced if they wanted it to be. They were much too powerful for Earth to have been able to fight back.

So why? Why were they being so cautious? Well, the answer to that question was simple enough. They were being cautious because of some outside force. They had an enemy… an enemy that, if it found them on Earth, would come to try and kill them.

Of course, the problem with that was, humans all looked an awful lot like Viltrumites. Cecil had no idea whether or not this mysterious enemy would even try to differentiate between humanity and the Viltrumites living among them… and he had no intention of finding out either.

“… I understand. I will be careful then.”

Cecil snorts in amusement, opening his mouth to offer a rejoinder to that generic statement. But before he can… the door to his office opens up and Cecil’s entire brains stops working.

“Director Stedman, I have successfully baked you a tray of cookies~”

Thula, one of the female Viltrumites (the one with the knife braid, Cecil’s memory ‘helpfully’ reminds him) stands in the doorway wearing oven mitts and an apron with ‘kiss the cook’ written across the chest over her usual uniform. She’s also holding a tray of freshly baked cookies aloft in her mitted hands.

Of course, the moment that she lays eyes on Argan, she freezes up, her eyes going wide and her face going pale.

“S-Sir! I did not know you would be here!”

Argan, meanwhile, looks between Cecil and Thula silently for a long, wordless moment. And then he seems to make a decision.

“I was just leaving.”

Oh no. Cecil opens his mouth to tell Argan he better not fucking run away from whatever the fuck this is, but the Viltrumite is too damn fast. He’s gone in a split second, somehow sliding right past Thula despite her not even managing to move from the doorway.

Thula looks a little surprised by his abrupt departure… but after a moment, seems to accept it and returns her gaze to Cecil. Her hungry, predatory gaze.

“Well then, Director Stedman… it would seem we have your office all to ourselves~”

… This was Donald’s fault somehow. Cecil just knew it. His second in command… had betrayed him.

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A/N: Argan is getting good at knowing when to make himself scarce.

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Google Doc Link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1tem2RZhE2uD_SgTtf6kGcIogHwNYq_zWsE-i9qc98ig/edit?tab=t.0