"Sir…"

Cecil Stedman was a weary man. Eight years serving in the United States Joint Terrorism Task Force had started the foundation of his mental fatigue. Two plus decades running the Global Defense Association had turned that foundation into a mountain. His every waking moment was spent calculating how to best protect Earth from the ever increasing amount of extraterrestrial and terrestrial threats that wished harm upon the planet.

The Guardians of the Globe, a group consisting of the mightiest superheroes found on Earth, had made his life a bit easy. They served as a buffer, a warning, to those who thought the world's security was weak. They didn't stop all crime, no deterrent could. But, hell, they sure as shit made people think twice before going after Earth.

Then they went and got themselves all killed.

Well, not all. Nolan Grayson, otherwise known as Omni-man, had survived. Which, on a surface level, made sense. While the Guardians were extremely efficient and talented at their jobs, Omni-man was the true keystone. There wasn't a single hero or villain that could stand up to his might. So, if anyone could have managed to survive an opponent capable of taking on the Guardians, it would've been Nolan.

It would have been real simple leaving it at just that. Unfortunately for Cecil, being simple hadn't gotten him to where he was now. So, he kept digging.

The more he dug, the more things went to shit. Omni-man's true allegiances to the Viltrumite empire became apparent after he left his son in a bloodied, comatose pile of flesh. The man he had trusted for twenty years of his life left him with the biggest, steamiest pile of shit he had ever been forced to clean up.

Well, not just him. Nolan left a son, Mark Grayson. Inspiring superhero and currently still recovering from the beatdown his father had given him. Whether the kid was aware of it or not, his father's beatings was just the beginning of the burden Nolan had left to him. Without Omni-Man, the world would need another keystone. Someone to keep all the shit from bursting from the seams.

"He's not ready, Donald."

The man being addressed quirked an eyebrow up at this. It was not very often that he got Cecil to agree with him on any topic.

"I agree, sir. I can tell Sinclair to refocus on the other-"

"Mark isn't ready. Invincible isn't ready." And with that, Donald felt his spirits fall. With the tone Cecil held, he knew there was virtually no chance of convincing him otherwise.

"In the past 9 months, we've dealt with an alien invasion, lost ALL of our strongest heroes and had to rebuild 14 major cities." Cecil spoke as he walked towards the room's sole silent occupant. Donald followed, the weariness in his own eyes shrouded by his glasses.

"Earth's greatest defender is a hormonal, snot-nosed, impulsive and untrained human/alien hybrid who hates authority. We need other options."

"We have others. Teen Te-"

"You gotta to be fucking joking, right?" As much as Donald wanted to reply, he knew he couldn't.

"If Nolan came back to earth right now, he would wipe his ass with Teen Team with one hand while the other would be busy snapping my neck." Cecil spat out. There was no venom in his voice, only biting acceptance.

"It is our job to protect the world, Donald." A sigh fell from the man's lips. "That means doing things we don't like. Things like teaming up with Sinclair and letting him do what he does best."

Silence overcame the room. The only sounds echoing through it was the soft, constant beeping of a heart monitor.

"He's just a kid, sir." Cecil felt himself sigh at the desperation within his assistant's voice. It was moments like these that convinced him to keep Donald around. The man was smart, resourceful and empathetic as hell. That empathy kept a man like him in check.

However, now was not a time for empathy.

"We've had our top doctors observe him. There hasn't been a single sign of brain activity for TWO weeks, Donald. The kid's essentially dead." Cecil turned to the supposed "kid". Most people would label him as a teen but anyone under the age of 30 was a kid in the man's eyes.

Yellow, spiky hair framed a slightly oval face. The boy had a bit of baby fat still clinging to his cheeks, giving him a youthful appearance even while unconscious. A hospital gown and a thin blanket covered his body yet Cecil knew what lay underneath. It was the whole reason he was having this conversation in the first place.

Muscle fibers stronger than any material his scientists had ever encountered. Cells capable of a level of adaptation that would make the organisms living near the ocean floor blush. A bone structure that could theoretically hold up to thousands of tons of pressure. And, most importantly, a central core of energy more potent than every single nuclear reactor on earth put together. The kid wasn't just an anomaly. He was a fucking beast.

"We let Sinclair work his magic with this kid's body, we may make the one thing we need to keep this planet from going to shit." Donald stood in silence staring at the boy. In truth, he had no response. He was aware that Cecil had already made up his mind yet that wasn't the only thing that made him hold his tongue. As much as he hated to admit it, he knew the man was right.

"God or whatever portal marking deity you want to believe in gift-wrapped this kid on our doorsteps moments after Nolan left earth. I'm not one to waste opportunity, Donald." Like Donald thought, Cecil's mind was made up. Now, it was simply time to do his job as the best damn assistant in the world.

"I'll let Sinclair know he's cleared to start, sir."

"He's not doing well, sir."

"That's putting it lightly, Donald." Cecil stood in the GDA's mass surveillance room, staring at the massive screen that took up a whole wall of the room. Dozens of computers, monitors and other communication devices spanned the entire room. Only the most trusted GDA staffers were privy to the ongoings within this space.

Displayed on the massive screen was one Mark Grayson. The college freshman was dressed in his Invincible costume though it was hard to see through the copious amount of blood covering it. The cause of all this blood was a lithe, tanned woman with dark hair dressed in a uniform that Earth would soon recognize as that of the Viltrumite empire.

And, here he was just thinking that things had been quiet around here. Cecil knew he was an idiot for ever allowing such a thought to cross his mind. Dealing with rebellious teenagers and a few town-level disasters had been a breeze compared to what he was watching now: Earth's greatest defender getting his ass thrown around like he was a ragdoll by a woman claiming to have allies even stronger than herself.

"Is our little project ready yet, Sinclair?" Though he didn't turn to address anyone, it was clear from the distressed look on one particular individual's face whom he was addressing. A pale man of average height, slicked-back black hair and an expression that made it seem like he just swallowed a handful of cockroaches.

"N-not completely. There are some cerebral implants that need to be recal-"

"Can it fight? Yes or no, Sinclair?" Cecil's tone felt like a gut punch to everyone in the room, Sinclair expression. If possible, the man grew paler as the GDA director shot a side glance his way.

"Wel-"

"If your next answer isn't shorter than four fucking letters, I'm teleporting your useless ass out there and making you fight this woman." Donald had to hold in a sigh at the harshness of his boss' tone. Tact was not something the man tended to do well, especially in situations like that.

"...Yes." The answer came out slow but arrived regardless. For the first time in the conversation, Cecil turned to meet the man's eyes. If Sinclair looked like he swallowed cockroaches before, it looked like he had a throatful of elephant shit now.

"Good." Cecil turned away from the man and returned his attention back to the room's massive screen. A few moments of tense silence followed the room as its occupants fought to share their attention between the images of Mark getting careened through the clouds and a tense Cecil.

"Why the hell are you still in this room? Send in the weapon." And, just like that, the room exploded into motion with Sinclair all but sprinting towards the exit.

Lucky. Unpredictable. Annoying. Resilient. There were a couple words that people threw around when describing Naruto Uzumaki. To those that knew him, only the most positive of attributes were given to him. To his enemies, those same attributes were undeniable even beneath the absolute mountain of annoyance they felt facing him.

It was the resilience that Naruto himself would be the most proud of. As a child, he had dealt with more shit than most adults would be capable of facing. His teenage years only added to the mountain of bullshit he had put up with in his life. His home village hating him, his best friend trying to kill him, a terrorist group of absolute supervillains hunting him down and a fucking alien goddess throwing the world into chaos. There were not many who could claim to have fought through and conquered as much as Naruto Uzumaki.

Unfortunately for him, he couldn't quite claim to have conquered Kaguya Otsutsuki, the aforementioned alien goddess. Oh, him and Sasuke definitely ended up doing a number to the woman. The tenacity of her attempts to take their lives made that very clear. But, the woman gave as good as they could give. An endless chakra pool, techniques stretching across the entirety of the history of ninjutsu along with the annoying ability to create portals to other dimensions made her a bitch to fight.

It was the last ability that landed Naruto in his current situation. After a last attempt to put the goddess down for good from the two ninja, Kaguya seemed to have reached her breaking point. In an instant, the battlefield had been flooded with clones of the woman, each seemingly as powerful as the woman herself. And each clone had all of the woman's abilities.

Him and Sasuke didn't stand a chance. They had struggled with one rabbit goddess. With hundreds, they had been decimated. Naruto's own attempts at leveling the playing fields with his clones had bought the duo a total of a dozen seconds. In that dozen seconds, they had come up with the inane plan that ended with him in his current predicament.

Suicide was not something either Naruto nor Sasuke had ever considered in their lifetimes. But with the fate of the world in their hands, a well-timed release of their combined energy directly in the face of the rabbit goddess was the best they could think of. Unfortunately, Kaguya wasn't a goddess for nothing. In the split-second before either duo could release the combined force of their energy, the woman had opened a portal. And from there…

Well, Naruto wasn't sure what happened from there. A ton of pain and darkness had followed the event but nothing tangible had passed through the boy's consciousness for what felt like eternity. The boy would've considered himself dead if he hadn't already experienced the world's afterlife. What he experienced wasn't death. It was much worse. Much, much more boring.

"You're welcome, brat."

Naruto turned his gaze to the speaker. A massive, orange kitsune with nine-tails greeted his sights.

"Thanks, Kurama." The boy offered up a small smile before redirecting his attention back to the ongoings of the outside world.

It had been two weeks since he was pulled from the vast, empty space courtesy of Kurama. The fox had been desperately attempting to pull his consciousness from whatever void he had been occupying. It was only through the combined might of the fox's own chakra and an accumulation of natural energy that the kitsune had been gathering that Naruto found himself back within his mindscape.

Unfortunately, being back in his mindscape did not mean he was alive in the world. While he was busy losing his mind in the void, Kurama had been studying what was happening to his body. The kitsune had gotten him caught up with what information he could gather from his comatose body.

The boy was in a different world. The science they were using to explore and modify his body made that very clear. Unfortunately, the extent of Kurama's investigation only stretched to Naruto's immediate physical vicinity. Fleeting glances of doctors, nurses, engineers, Cecil and that scientist Sinclair were really all the fox had to offer when Naruto returned.

So, with that, Naruto had spent the last two weeks as an observer in his own body. For someone like this, it was torture but much less so than the void he had been trapped in. At the very least, he could occupy himself with figuring out what the hell these scientists had done to his body.

Thankfully, Kurama confirmed that his chakra network was left completely intact. For the most part, the same went for the exterior of the body. A childish bit of pride went through him when he discovered this. No need to improve on what was already great was what he told himself.

Underneath the skin where things got interesting. The extent of Naruto's scientific knowledge held him back from accurately identifying all the components but even he knew that the scientists working on him had filled his bodies with odd electronics and weapons. All of which were carefully tapping into his chakra network as a source of fuel.

For the past two weeks, he had waited patiently for his return to consciousness. A part of him feared he never would. Yet now, as his body was loaded into what he could best guess was some sort of transportation vessel, Naruto felt nothing but the itch of anticipation scratching at his senses.

"He'll be activated upon landing." Those words coming from Sinclair had sent a smile across the blond's face. From what he had gathered from the scientists, there was a belief that his actions would be controlled by them when he was 'activated'. Talks of 'cortex manipulators' and 'hormonal dampers' were thrown around. These procedures and modifications had worked on Sinclair's subjects in the past. But Naruto was not them.

He was beyond them.

As he felt his body careen through the sky at speeds that would make most nin blush, Naruto felt the itch grow stronger. The past two weeks had given him plenty of time within his own head. His thoughts had been jumbled, unjumbled, tossed in a pile of clutter and then reorganized all over again. And as fun as all that thinking had been, there was nothing that Naruto wanted more than to wake the hell up and kick some ass.

He felt the capsule shake as it crashed into earth. Moments later, he could feel whatever the scientists put inside his brain begin to activate. It took only a minute push of his and Kurama's chakra to overcome whatever Sinclair had planned. And with that push, Naruto felt the telltale signs of consciousness returning to him.

"Go ahead and have your fun." Kurama dismissed him with a wave of his tails as he began to fade from his mindscape. The last thing the fox saw from his host was a wide grin before the boy was gone from his sight.

"Something's wrong…"

"The hell you mean somethings wrong?" Cecil barked at Sinclair. The scientist's eyes were wide as he stared at the diagnostics screen that was attached to the subject's cerebral implants.

"H-His central nervous system implants are completely zeroed out. The receivers we transplanted in his amygdala are showing readings we've never seen before. His cerebrum is-"

"English, asshole. Explain to me in English before I throw your ass-"

"He's offline! We have no control!" If it was any other situation, Sinclair's shout would've had Cecil imagining twenty different ways to castrate the scientist. For now, the man swallowed his homicidal ideations to focus his full attention on the screen to his front.

"Hmm."

It took a lot to distract her from moments like this. A strong man bleeding beneath her foot did things to Anissa. Very nice things. Things that she was rarely able to indulge in due to the chaotic nature of being a Viltrumite. Her sadistic tendencies were usually limited to the mass genocide of planets. It scratched the itch but never got rid of it. The personal nature of breaking a man with her own hands until his resistance was none, now that hit the spot.

She had been in the middle of indulging herself with Nolan's half-human offspring when a mysterious pod crash landed a few yards away from her. Considering her manhandling of Mark, she wasn't too surprised that reinforcements had made their way to their position. Now, she was just curious about its nature.

The pod popped open with a hiss, revealing its occupant. Anissa was happy to find the pod's passenger to be pretty lacking in the clothing department. Though, a pesky codpiece did block her sight of the main show. Instead, she would have to settle with ogling all the visible skin presented to her.

The male was on the shorter side which wasn't too much of an issue for her. Whatever he lacked in height, he made up for in everything else. Tight and lithe muscles, a nice complexion albeit a little pale for her tastes paired along nicely with a striking mane of blond spiky hair. Unfortunately, a hideous headpiece covered the majority of his face, hiding what Anissa could only assume to be a cute expression. She did appreciate the mouth cut-out. She would surely find some use of that later.

The pod's passenger took an unsteady step out of its confinement. Anissa had to hold in a chuckle as the male barely managed to keep its footing. A weak mumble left the mysterious figure's lips, too soft for the Viltrumite to pick up the exact wording. She watched curiously as the creature palmed its face, its fingers rubbing against the cold metallic mask that covered its eyes.

Her curiosity skyrocketed when the figure's fingers found purchase, sliding into the metal with ease. With a grunt of effort, the mask was torn off and thrown aside, showcasing the figure's face to Anissa and all watchers back at GDA.

The Viltrumite found her blood boiling in the most pleasant of ways as her eyes traced the boy's face. Deep blue eyes, a cute upturned nose and an adorable set of whisker marks set on a pair of cheeks that were just barely clinging onto the last remains of baby fat.

"I think I found a nice toy to play with before my departure, Nolan's offspring." Anissa granted the half Viltrumite some mercy as she lifted her boot from his head. The boy could only offer up a weak groan as the Viltrumite woman began to make her way towards the mysterious male.

"Hello there, little boy. Who might you be?" Anissa spoke with a wide grin on her face. The grin only grew wider when the male locked eyes with her. She didn't spot a single ounce of fear behind those blue orbs.

Good. She liked it when they started confident. It made breaking them so much more satisfying.

"Me?" The blond quirked an eyebrow at her before settling into a deep stretch. Anissa was not subtle in her ogling as his muscles tensed and relaxed with his movements.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki. Yours?" The now identified Naruto offered up.

"My name is Anissa of the Viltrumite empire. I have come bearing a warning for this planet. Kneel to the empire or face elimination. You may begin by kneeling before me." The woman offered with wide arms. Her stance lasted only for a brief moment before tightening along with her focus on Naruto.

"You can address me simply as Anissa. Mistress will also work." The woman's expression was damn-right predatory at this point. With earth's mightiest hero laying in a pile of his own blood behind her, she made for a very threatening sight.

Thus, she was pleasantly confused by the smile slowly spreading across his face.

"Lady, you have no idea how happy it makes me to hear that." Anissa's confusion continued to grow as the boy shook his limbs out. Her confusion completed its transformation into sadistic arousal when the male settled into an undoubtable fighting stance.

"I got a lot of crap I need to work out right about now."

AN: Chapter 1 completed. Let me know what you think.