Mark of the Multiversal Pretender

"So? How about it?" Once outside the gym, Leo asked Syndrome.

"Are you still asking me? Of course, I'll gladly work as your tech-support! Oh man! If my grandmother were to hear about this, she would go nuts! Especially those bullies in school!" Syndrome jumped in excitement.

"You're bullied in school?" Leo raised an eyebrow on this, well looks like there might be more to Syndrome's rise in villainy.

"Yeah, but it doesn't matter now. While they're dreaming of meeting their Superheroes, I'm already working on one." Syndrome chuckled and suddenly reacted as if remembering something.

"Oh right! Yeah, Uhm you can actually just call me Buddy. Syndrome is just a nickname after all."

"Sure, buddy. Hmm, I like the ring to it. It sounds perfect, don't you think so, buddy?" Leo grinned and patted Syndrome, now known as Buddy on the head.

"Yeah right." Buddy chuckled, not feeling offensive over the joke.

"So, where do I begin?" Buddy asked, shaking his hand as if preparing for a great fight.

"...."

"Say, you have a home, right?"

"You mean my grandma's farm house?" Buddy confusedly asked.

"You have a farm house?" Leo was surprised. Well, he was not expecting this.

Who knew that the great villain in the future has a farm house when he was a child.

"Yup, it was originally my grandfather's father's farm house but it was passed down to my grandfather then to my father and then to my grandma after both my grandfather and father died." Buddy casually said, even shrugging his shoulders in the process as if the topic of the conversation wasn't that sensitive.

"That's...." Leo was speechless.

"How about your mother?" He asked.

"Yeah.....she ran away after she found a wealthy man and went off the country, leaving me and my father." Buddy's face took a sad one as he sighed in sorrow.

"That's rough, Buddy." Leo patted his shoulders in comfort.

"It's fine. It's been a long time anyway." Buddy replied.

"Enough about that. Why'd you ask about my home?" 

"Well. It's quite a story but my apartment is not fit to build as a laboratory. However your farm house though...." Leo slowly stopped, watching as the realization finally slapped Buddy in the face.

"Ohhh no....oh no, not my grandma's farm house! She's clueless towards everything about me! I don't think she should be involved in this!" Buddy complained, showing his concern towards his grandmother.

"Just the farm house, Buddy. Not your grandmother." Leo curtly said.

"But what about my grandmother?"

"No worries, I'll make sure she won't know anything." Leo smiled and patted Buddy's shoulders.

'Base of operations, check. Now, the last thing is to complete Jimmy Neutron's Quests. Normally, I could've asked Edna for help however, I don't think she'll agree with me and besides, her focus is on costumes while Buddy focuses more on weapons and such.' Leo muttered under his breath.

"You sure?" Buddy asked one more time.

"I'm more than just sure." Leo nodded his head in confirmation.

'Actually, I'm not but I'll think of the solution on the way.' Leo continued, his words however he didn't say it out loud.

"Okay then. Follow me, my home is just a few rides away." Trusting Leo's words, Buddy started walking with Leo trailing behind him.

'Oh right, I forgot about Helen.' Realizing that he left Helen hanging during their texting earlier, Leo quickly tapped his phone open and read the notifications.

[99+ unread messages from Helen]

'Oh shit.'

***

A few hours earlier, Helen just placed her phone down on the bed, her large chest heaving up and down.

'Why am I being like this?' She questioned herself. She just left at least 10 messages to Leo who is still not responding to her texts.

As for what those messages are?

<Helen: Leo, you there? Listen, Uhm it was meant to be a joke.>

<Helen: The 'Talking to you' message earlier. I don't know if it came out rude to you?>

<Helen: I was just being sarcastic.>

And many more messages like this, explaining herself as if she was talking to her professor whom she accidentally sent the wrong homework.

'Ugh! Helen, you're such an idiot! I should probably get ready. It's my Algebra class today, I think?' Giving her phone a one last look and resisting the urge to directly call Leo, Helen sighed in defeat and entered the bathroom to take a shower.

However, on her way there, she came across a familiar face.

"Oh hey, Helen! So good to see you. Wanna go to class together?" Jessica, who recently just woke up in a 3 hour sleep after coming home drunk earlier in the morning, looks fresh and would make you think as if she wasted earlier.

"No need. I can go there myself. I'm sure your 'friends' will appreciate it more." Helen replied in a hidden snarky, which Jessica was quick to notice.

"Uhm, did I do something wrong?" Jessica bore a confused look on her face which made Helen have the urge to punch it.

However, she resisted herself and faked a smile.

"It's nothing. I just had a bad day, that's all. I never meant it for you."

"O-Oh! I see. I also had those kinds of days. I totally understand what you're feeling! Anyways, I'll go first now, alright?" Jessica grinned and didn't wait for Helen's reply before she throttled out of their dorm room under Helen's cold and watchful eyes.

"Sigh....This is bad for your health Helen. Just ignore her and mind your own business. Like you always do." She muttered to herself after inhaling and exhaling.

"Just smile."

***

Inside the bus, Buddy put his earphones on and started listening to some music while Leo was staring down on his phone, his eyes scanning left and right at almost inhumane speeds while his thumbs were bobbing up and down as if it would catch on fire.

Currently, he was scrolling on the fast messages, using his enhanced senses to read through all of Helen's messages.

Soon, it didn't take long before he was finished and closed his eyes.

'In short, she talked about what she said earlier, to asking how my day was, to apologizing again about her 'rude' reply and finally ended it by asking me out for dinner. Oh Leo, how far have you fallen to be asked out by the female instead of yourself!' Leo mentally flipped his nonexistent long hair, pretending as if he was a very charming person.

Which he is, technically.

Because if he's not, how would he be able to hook not one but two royal princesses, in which the other one is a Queen. Don't even mention they're sisters and became willing to share him without him even knowing how the fuck it happened.

'I'll say, fate fucking loves me.' Grinning mentally, Leo leaned forward and started typing his reply.

***

*Ding!*

Inside the class during the discussion, Helen was resting her chin on her hand, looking at the large blackboard in front with boredom plastered on her face, when suddenly, her phone inside her bag rang.

Helen's eyes widened and she quickly scanned around the classroom, trying to see if anyone was looking at her.

Seeing none, she quickly but silently fumbled her bag and took her phone out.

<Leo: I ain't reading all that.>

Helen's blood quickly turned cold, thinking of the worse.

However, before things could turn grim, Leo's next text quickly poured a cold bucket of water over her head.

<Leo: Now that's sarcasm. I was just joking. Obviously, I know what a sarcasm is. *Wink!*>

<Helen: Ahh~!! And here, I can't stop myself from assuming that you thought of me as someone rude. *Cry Emoji*>

<Leo: Relax, I'm not the kind of person who judges people based on a single thing they did.>

<Helen: How kind of you...>

<Leo: Anyways, I read your last message, about the dinner.>

Blush crept up to her cheeks as her fingers quickly wiggled around, typing her answer.

However before she could send it to him, Helen quickly felt something touch her forehead.

Confused, she removed her eyes from the screen of her phone and only then she noticed the piece of chalk on her table.

"Ms. Helen. I'm sure you know that using phones in class isn't allowed. Do you think the lesson is easy? If it is, then try answering this then." Slapping his hand on the blackboard, the professor quickly ordered her to answer the current algebra problem on the board.

'Oh come on!'

***

Back in the bus, Leo was waiting for the reply, however aside from the 'seen', there was no reply from the other side.

'Maybe something happened that called her attention? Speaking of dinner, should I go on this date? It would be quite rude for me to refuse it, right? But I already have a Queen, and a princess. It doesn't hurt to have a Superhero in the ground, though right?' While Leo was busy thinking about the upcoming date from Helen, the future Superhero, Elastigirl. A certain someone caught his attention.

***

"Are you sure about this?" A large man with a thick and bushy black mutton chops beard, wearing nothing on his top but a cape that is connected to his blue mask, on his bottom part was a black tight fit shorts.

A very weird combination of outfits however if someone were to see him, would remind them of only one guy.

Super Macho Man!

"Yeah. It looks like he didn't even do his best." Beside him, was also a fellow superhero.

"Hmm. Impressive, I thought that Incredible Boy would be the one to beat my record, I wasn't expecting this." Super Macho Man caressed his mutton chops beard that looks very well trimmed and cared for.

"I'll keep an eye on this kid."

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[If you want a reference, I took inspiration from El Macho from Despicable Me 2, though of course I tweaked the appearance a bit, for originality.]

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[Next Chapter: Ch. 105 - Not to be trifled with!]