OG: Interlude: Meanwhile With The Other Champions V

Alia Fadal had a rough past couple of months. Sure, she and Tech Jacket had managed to contact the Guardians of the Globe and warn them about Omni-Man, and sure, she'd been able to use her cooking to boost their abilities, but Omni-Man's defeat had cost the lives of Red Rush, Darkwing, and Aquarus. It had also just been the start of things. When he'd failed to slaughter the Guardians of the Globe, Omni-Man had fucked off into space but he hadn't been the only issue to crop up. Mark Grayson, Omni-Man's Son, had taken up the mantle of Omni-Man and had clashed with the Immortal over the costume and hero persona he'd chosen. The resulting battle unfolded over Mackinac Island and pretty much destroyed the Tourist Town on the island. The Government had blamed Mark because, of course, they would. The Immortal worked for them, after all.

That had practically assured that when the Viltrumites sent a scout to see what had happened to Nolan, Mark took their side. Viltrum sent Anissa to Earth, and between her and Mark, several heroes were killed trying to defend the Planet from Viltrumite Aggression. Fortunately, Alia and Tech Jacket had managed to stop Anissa, with Alia using her power over fire magic and her power with Combat Seasoning provided by the Celestial Oven to distract Anissa while Tech Jacket handled Mark. Of course, she never would have been able to do even that much if her food hadn't given her the strength, speed, and durability to temporarily fight on a similar level.

Of course, once that temporary physical boost ran out, she'd been mortally wounded, but fortunately, the Immortal, War Woman, and Green Ghost had shown up in the nick of time to prevent Anissa from striking the killing blow. Alia had then devoured a number of emergency Gummies that she had stashed, which healed her wounds and ensured she was back at full health, before moving to help Tech Jacket against Mark. Tech Jacket and Mark were on even footing after Mark had seemingly gotten a growth spurt sometime between the Immortal Fight and now. Fortunately, Alia managed to toss down a pepper bomb to distract Mark. Tech Jacket, inside his armor, hadn't been affected, and he'd taken the upper hand while Mark was sneezing. Between that and Alia helping to keep Mark off-balance with Combat Seasoning, Knife-Work, and Fire Magic, Tech Jacket managed to subdue Mark.

They'd then moved to help fight Anissa alongside the Guardians of the Globe, managing to pull off a victory, though not before Anissa managed to break the Immortal's neck. He would get better, though, while Anissa very much wouldn't, as Green Ghost managed to Phase his hand into Anissa's chest while War Woman held her in a Full-Nelson, temporarily stopping her heart as he turned his hand tangible again and allowing Tech Jacket to land a killing blow with a Photon Beam to Anissa's face. Now, having defeated three Viltrumites, the Viltrum Empire sent Conquest to Earth to squash resistance and make a point. That fight had been a week ago, and it had been brutal.

In the end, Washington DC, Beijing, Moscow, London, Paris, Berlin, and Tokyo had been reduced to rubble. Green Ghost and War Woman had been slain, leaving the Immortal as the sole surviving original member of the Guardians of the Globe. Killing Conquest had required a supreme effort and the help of Alia, Rex Splode, and Best Tiger to distract the Viltrumite while the Guardians, Robot, Atom Eve, and Tech Jacket did the heavy lifting. In the end, New York City was partially destroyed, but Conquest had been slain. With four Viltrumites dead, the Viltrum Empire had declared Earth to be Off-Limits for now. That was largely because there were fewer than fifty full-blooded Viltrumites in the whole Empire left, a fact that Alia knew thanks to her metaknowledge but no one else did. At least, she was the only one who knew about that outside the Viltrum Empire, anyway.

Alia had spent the last week making a stockpile of Healing Gummies and Physically Boosting Foods for everyone. She had a feeling it would be time for her to jump out of here soon, after all, and she didn't want to leave her allies in a lurch when she did. That was what she was continuing to do now. She was in her Kitchen making. As she checked the Iron-Skin Hotpot Dish she was making, which would boost the physical resilience of anyone who ate it by a full twenty percent, a familiar voice rang out from behind her.

"I thought I'd find you here. You've been cooking up a storm lately." Came the voice of Zack Thompson, AKA Tech Jacket.

Alia turned and saw her partner in superheroics standing in the doorway that led out into the alley behind her restaurant. She nodded at him and smiled sadly. After all, her jumping would leave him without a Crime-Fighting Partner.

"Yeah, I don't want to leave you all hanging when I'm gone." Informed Alia.

"When you're gone?" Questioned Zack.

"You remember when I told you that I wasn't from this universe?" Queried Alia.

"Yeah. Multiverse Theory Stuff, right?" Asked Zack.

"Right. Well, the thing is, the time limit on the circumstances that brought me to this Universe is running out soon. I'm cooking up a storm so that when I'm gone, you all have enough food stockpiled to get the new Guardians Team up to snuff." Answered Alia.

"Oh. I didn't realize." Frowned Zack.

"Yeah. I told you I didn't know how long I was going to be here for, Zack." Pointed out Alia.

"Yeah, but I thought you were talking metaphorically. Like you were thinking that you might die or something." Mused Zack.

"I wasn't." Responded Alia.

"Well, I guess that means that you won't be joining the new Guardians Team, then, huh?" Questioned Zack.

"No. Did you come here to invite me?" Queried Alia.

"Cecil wanted to know if you'd join." Shrugged Zack.

"I wouldn't put too much trust in the Global Defense Agency, or Director Stedman, Zack. He wants to save the world, but that doesn't make him a good person. He's a big picture guy, and when you only look at the big picture, some things tend to slip from focus." Warned Alia.

"More magic foresight?" Asked Zack.

"Call it intuition. I'm a pretty good judge of people, after all." Smirked Alia.

"I already joined the team, though. I can't just un-join." Opined Zack.

"Who else is on this new team?" Questioned Alia.

"Me, Rex Splode, Atom Eve, Robot, and the Immortal right now. We sent invites to Best Tiger and a guy named Brit, but they haven't responded. Word is, Brit's invulnerable, which means he's a perfect candidate if we can boost his power and speed with your magic cooking, and Best Tiger is Best Tiger." Informed Zack.

"You might consider looking into Dupli-Kate, too." Offered Alia.

"Rex Splode's girlfriend? The Clone Chick?" Queried Zack.

"She's tricky with her clone use. I think she'd make a good teammate." Nodded Alia.

"I'll pass your recommendation along." Agreed Zack.

"Any word on what's going to happen with the Capital?" Asked Alia.

"Cecil thinks they're going to move the Capital to Chicago full-time. DC could take years to rebuild, apparently. Something to do with the underground system." Explained Zack.

That was interesting, but also somewhat Ironic. See, with DC utterly wrecked from the Conquest Fight and New York City partially wrecked, the US Federal Government had moved to Chicago temporarily. This was ironic because Chicago had been completely decimated during the Omni-Man fight in the Original Timeline. From what Alia had heard, similar moves had happened elsewhere, with the Chinese moving to Shanghai, the French to Marseille, the Germans to Hamburg, the Japanese to Yokohama, the British to Birmingham, and the Russians to Saint Petersburg. After all, with how wrecked their capitals had been, it only made sense to move to another city. Arguably, the only reason the US Government hadn't moved to Los Angeles had been the distance between the coasts. LA was larger than Chicago by around one point two million people, after all.

"I see. It makes sense. Los Angeles is too far away, and New York was partially wrecked." Affirmed Alia.

"Yeah. I can't imagine the Republicans were thrilled with either choice, though. Chicago and LA are both pretty Democratic." Shrugged Zack.

"Most cities would be. Most of the Republican Base is pretty rural, after all. Still, it's not like there were many other options. Anyway, enough about the politics, how are you holding up?" Questioned Alia, changing the subject.

"I'm all right. It's nothing I haven't dealt with before." Answered Zack.

"No? You've watched people die like that before?" Queried Alia.

"Yeah. Back during the Kresh War." Confirmed Zack.

"I guess you would have." Responded Alia.

"How are you holding up?" Asked Zack.

"Not great. Seeing hundreds of thousands of people die like that isn't something I'm used to. I didn't fight in a war out in space to harden me." Frowned Alia.

It was true. She'd expected something bad, but not that bad. They'd tried to ambush Conquest coming back from Tokyo, after he'd slain War Woman during the Battle of Tokyo. Unfortunately, they hadn't caught up with the Viltrumite Warrior again until he'd already leveled half of the Bronx. Alia hadn't fought at Tokyo or in any of the other battles before New York. She'd been kept back at Headquarters, making healing gummies for the wounded. They'd needed all hands on deck for the Battle of New York, though, and so she'd been sent in. The sight of the carnage that she had been teleported into was something that Alia would keep with her for life. However, she was working through it and understood she had to keep moving forward instead of letting the trauma drag her down.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Asked Zack.

"No. No, I think I'll be ok with time to process." Refuted Alia.

"You sure?" Queried Zack.

"Yeah, I'm sure." Nodded Alia.

"You know I'm always here to talk if you need to, right?" Asked Zack.

"I know. You're a good friend, Zack." Confirmed Alia.

They talked for a bit longer, mostly about inconsequential things compared to what they had been talking about previously. In the end, though, Zack had to leave after another hour or so. Alia kept making her various boosting and healing items. She would keep that up for the next nine days, just making food to heal and to help boost the capabilities of various heroes. Soups that could boost defense, healing gummies, steaks that could boost punching power, beer that would give the drinker speed, and so on, and so on. It was time-consuming work, but necessary. She made them at her restaurant before transporting them to Guardians Headquarters via teleportation device, batch by batch. Cecil had allowed her to use the Global Defense Agency's Teleporter, thanks to the critical nature of the cargo in keeping the Earth safe from Viltrumite Aggression.

At the end of the ninth day, Alia Fadal found herself being transported, along with her Kitchen, to another universe, this one also with Costumed Heroes. One far more familiar than the Invincible Universe. Alia Fadal and her Kitchen found themselves in Gotham City of the Mainstream DC Universe, somewhere in Chinatown, judging by the decor and the number of Chinese people walking around the street.

As Alia was transported out of the Invincible Universe, she would miss the arrival on Invincible Earth of Allen the Alien by one day, as he looked to recruit the world that had defeated multiple Viltrumites. . .

XXXX

AN: Managed to get this one out because it was already mostly finished. Sorry, it's not one of my other stories. You'll get a double dose of that tomorrow with Renaissance Man and Engineering Victory. I promise.

At any rate, here we see how Alia Fadal Managed with the Invincible Universe. Thanks to her magical cooking and metaknowledge, Earth's defenders were a lot better able to fight Viltrumites. Of course, that also caused blind spots and unforeseen consequences, such as the arrival of Conquest on Earth early and Mark seeing the Guardians as the Bad Guys thanks to them attacking Omni-Man. Ironically, this makes Alia's version an Alternate Timeline like the ones that Angstrom Levy pulled the other Marks from for the Invincible War in Canon.

At any rate, the next chapter will be a look at Emma Yung and how she fared in the Dresden Files Universe. Then we'll take a look at Tanaka Yumi and what went down in the Fullmetal Alchemist Universe. I plan to only do updated Character Sheets for everyone after these interludes, before we come back to the MC for his first day in Warhammer Fantasy.

Stay tuned. . .