Inside The Castle of Viltrum Thragg studied General Kregg's reports with growing interest.
Allen the Alien's genetic structure revealed fascinating anomalies when compared to other Unopans - deliberate modifications that couldn't be natural evolution.
"So it's true," Thragg murmured, his eyes narrowing at the molecular diagrams, having his first life knowledge confirmed to apply to this scenario.
Someone had engineered Allen with extraordinary skill, creating a weapon designed specifically to combat Viltrumites.
The modifications - unknown to the ones who made the analysis - allowed for adaptive evolution after physical trauma - Allen would return from near-death stronger than before.
A trait that stirred both professional interest and personal curiosity in Thragg. His own enhanced control over his smart atoms would benefit greatly from incorporating such capabilities.
He set aside the genetic analysis, reflecting on his strategy with Allen.
After a month of carefully orchestrated isolation, he'd released the Unopan back to the Coalition of Planets.
During that captivity, he'd continued from his first attempt when he met him to plant subtle seeds of doubt about Thaedus, suggesting the former Viltrumite had deliberately sent Allen into a trap.
"By now, the suspicion should be taking root," Thragg thought with satisfaction.
An internal conflict within the Coalition would give him the perfect opportunity to eliminate Thaedus and dismantle the only organized resistance to his rule.
But for now, Allen's genetic adaptability demanded his attention.
Understanding it might enhance his own evolution, though to be careful he must first attempt it with external technological replication before trying to alter his own structure.
Thragg gathered the reports and secured them in a hidden compartment within his throne.
As the chamber sealed with a soft click, he found his thoughts drifting to an entirely different matter - one less strategic but increasingly persistent.
Amanda's reaction to receiving his cape had been... unexpected. The evident pleasure in her eyes, the way her hands had tightened around the fabric - these observations lingered in his mind, demanding... contemplation.
He needed more information about human pair bonding, particularly between species as disparate as Viltrumites and humans (since he himself in his first life never had the time for such activities.
Having been busy with more important matters than pursuing romantic relationships or even friendship for that matter.).
He had theory, but no practical knowledge.
There was, however, someone who possessed exactly that expertise.
---------------------
Nolan Grayson flipped burgers on his backyard grill, beer in hand, enjoying the simple pleasure of an evening cookout.
The first subtle shift in air pressure made him look up just as Thragg descended from the sky, landing with surprising gentleness on the lawn.
"Grand Regent," Nolan said, straightening in surprise. "This is... unexpected."
Thragg stood motionless for a moment, his imposing figure starkly out of place among the suburban trappings. "I require your insight on a matter of... personal significance."
Nolan nearly dropped his spatula. "Of course," he managed, recovering quickly. "Would you like to come inside, or...?"
"Here is adequate," Thragg decided, glancing at the grill. "You are engaged in food preparation."
"Just making dinner. Nothing that can't wait if you need to discuss something."
Thragg was silent for a moment, as if gathering his thoughts. When he spoke, his directness was tempered with what almost seemed like hesitation. "I wish to understand the initial stages of your relationship with your human mate."
Nolan blinked in shock. "You... want to know how I met Debbie?"
"Yes. Specifically, the process by which you established your initial connection."
Nolan's mind raced, immediately connecting this unusual inquiry to Amanda receiving Thragg's cape. He turned back to the grill to hide his expression since it nearly broke into a small smile.
"That's... quite a story. Mind if I continue cooking while we talk?"
Thragg nodded, positioning himself beside the grill in a way that seemed deliberately to be to appear less intimidating.
"I met Debbie about nineteen years ago," Nolan began, flipping a burger. "I'd been on Earth for a few months, establishing my cover as a travel writer.
I was at a bookstore, researching local culture. Debbie was there too, looking for a real estate guide. We reached for the same coffee, and..." He smiled at the memory.
"She wasn't intimidated by me. Most humans sense something different about Viltrumites, even in civilian form. But Debbie just treated me like any other person."
"She did not perceive your superior nature?" Thragg asked.
Though internally he noted that this way of contact did not align with his knowledge from the show.
Perhaps it did with the comic version, the one he wasn't as invested in the beginning parts of in his first life.
"Oh, she knew I was different," Nolan clarified. "But she didn't care. She was more interested in who I was than what I was. It was... refreshing. We talked for hours that first day."
"A practical information-gathering exercise," Thragg observed.
Nolan nodded, smiling ruefully. "That's what I told myself. Just establishing my cover identity more thoroughly. But looking back, I was already feeling something unexpected."
"When did you recognize this emotional response?"
Nolan arranged the cooked burgers on a plate, considering. "Probably our third meeting. I'd asked her to dinner - again, telling myself it was for mission purposes.
We were walking back to her apartment, and she slipped on some ice. I caught her before she fell." He paused, remembering the moment clearly despite the years.
"The way she looked at me then... I felt something entirely new. I wanted to protect her, not for the mission, but because I couldn't bear the thought of her being hurt."
"You deviated from mission parameters based on emotional response," Thragg stated.
"I didn't see it that way at first," Nolan admitted. "I rationalized everything. But yes, eventually I had to acknowledge that my feelings had become... complicated."
"How did you navigate this complexity?"
Nolan gestured toward a patio table. "Mind if we sit? This might take a while."
They moved to the table, an incongruous pair - Thragg's massive frame making the patio furniture seem like dollhouse accessories.
Nolan set the burgers between them, then retrieved two beers from a nearby cooler.
"Won't do much for us," he said, offering one to Thragg. "Viltrumite metabolism and all. But it's customary to share a drink during conversations like this."
To his surprise, Thragg accepted, taking an experimental sip without comment.
"The early days were easiest," Nolan continued. "Everything was new, exciting. I could justify my interest as mission-related. But as we grew closer, the rationalizations became harder to maintain."
"You experienced internal conflict," Thragg said.
"Profound conflict," Nolan confirmed, his expression darkening with the memory. "Everything I'd been taught about human inferiority, about emotional attachment being weakness - it all clashed with what I was feeling.
Some nights I'd fly into the stratosphere just to clear my head, to remind myself of who I really was."
"Yet you proceeded with the relationship."
Nolan took a long drink. "I did. I told myself it was necessary for the mission. But the truth was simpler and more complicated - I couldn't stay away from her.
She made me feel... different. Like I was more than just a weapon or conqueror."
"How did she respond to your attention?" Thragg asked, leaning forward slightly.
"Positively," Nolan said, smiling again. "Humans value sincerity, even when they don't fully understand what's happening.
Debbie knew there was something unusual about me, something I wasn't telling her. But she also recognized that my feelings were genuine, even when I couldn't admit it to myself."
"The proposal of formal pair bonding - how did this occur?"
Nolan laughed softly. "Not how I'd planned it. I'd studied human courtship, prepared an elaborate scenario - expensive restaurant, rehearsed speech, traditional ring. But when the moment came, none of it felt right."
He looked up at the darkening sky. "We were hiking in the mountains. Nothing special, just a day trip. We reached this overlook with a view of the entire valley.
Debbie was smiling, her hair catching the sunlight... and suddenly all my preparations seemed inadequate.
I just asked her, right there, with no ring, no speech, nothing but the truth of what I was feeling."
"And she accepted," Thragg stated.
"She did. Though she did insist on a proper ring afterward." Nolan smiled at the memory. "Said she didn't mind an impromptu proposal, but some traditions were worth keeping."
Thragg was silent for a moment. When he spoke again, his question was unexpected. "Did you inform her of your true nature before this commitment?"
Nolan's expression sobered. "No. That came later, after we were married. I told her I was Omni-Man, showed her my powers. But even then, as you know, I didn't tell her everything. Not about Viltrum, not about the real mission."
"A partial truth," Thragg observed.
"Yes," Nolan acknowledged, regret evident in his voice. "I justified it as protecting her. But looking back, I think I was protecting myself too. I was afraid of how she'd look at me if she knew the whole truth. Even when I knew I was completely in the right."
"Fear," Thragg repeated, the word sounding strange from him. "You, a Viltrumite warrior, experienced fear of a human's judgment."
"Hard to believe, isn't it?" Nolan agreed. "But that's what happens when you truly care for someone. Their opinion matters in ways that transcend rational assessment."
Thragg considered this thoughtfully. "The human perspective altered your own."
"It did," Nolan confirmed. "Living among humans, loving Debbie, raising Mark - it changed me in ways I never anticipated. Made me question things I'd always accepted as absolute truth."
"Such as Viltrumite superiority," Thragg suggested.
Nolan met his gaze steadily. "Such as the belief that power and strength are the only metrics that matter. That emotional connection is weakness rather than a different kind of strength."
A silence fell between them. Nolan was aware he was treading close to challenging fundamental Viltrumite doctrine, but Thragg had come to him, had asked these questions. That meant something.
"Would you show me?" Thragg asked suddenly.
"Show you?"
"This city. Through your perspective. The human environments you have integrated into."
Nolan blinked in surprise. "You want me to... give you a tour?"
"Yes," Thragg confirmed. "Your experience provides valuable context."
After storing the food and leaving Debbie a note, Nolan rejoined Thragg in the backyard. "We should probably change first," he suggested. "My clothes won't fit you, but Cecil could arrange something appropriate if you'd prefer to blend in."
"Unnecessary," Thragg decided. "Observation does not require integration at this stage."
When Nolan returned in his civilian clothes, he found Thragg examining a garden gnome with puzzled intensity.
"Debbie's decorative choice, not mine," Nolan explained with a smile. "Humans often place ornamental objects that serve no practical purpose beyond aesthetic preference."
"Inefficient," Thragg observed, though without his usual dismissiveness.
"But very human," Nolan replied. "Ready?"
They took to the sky, Nolan pointing out landmarks and neighborhoods as they flew.
"That's where Debbie and I had our first apartment," he said, indicating a modest building near the university.
"And over there is the park where I used to take Mark when he was little. He loved the swings - couldn't get enough of them."
They landed on a skyscraper rooftop that offered a panoramic view of the city.
"From up here, it all looks so orderly," Nolan observed. "But down there, it's chaos and complexity. Millions of lives, each with their own priorities, desires, fears... It's overwhelming when you first arrive."
"Yet you adapted," Thragg noted.
"I did," Nolan agreed. "Though not without challenges. Human social structures are intricate, often contradictory. Their emotional responses can seem irrational until you understand the underlying motivations."
"Example," Thragg requested.
"Debbie once became upset because I forgot our anniversary," Nolan explained. "From a Viltrumite perspective, marking the annual recurrence of a past event seems pointless -
the event happened, the bond was formed, why celebrate the date? But for humans, these rituals reaffirm commitment, demonstrate continued valuation of the relationship."
"Symbolic reassurance," Thragg surmised.
"Exactly. Once I understood that, I never forgot another anniversary. Not because the date mattered to me, but because acknowledging it mattered to her."
They watched the city in silence, the lights below growing brighter as darkness fell.
"There's a place nearby I'd like to show you," Nolan said eventually.
They descended toward a small building with a neon sign identifying it as "Mick's Place." Conversation momentarily faltered as they entered the neighborhood bar, but resumed as Nolan led Thragg to a corner booth.
A waitress approached, her eyes widening slightly. "Evening, Mr. Grayson," she greeted Nolan. "Your usual?"
"Thanks, Maggie," Nolan confirmed. "And whatever my friend here would like to try."
"Your recommendation," Thragg told her.
"Our house bourbon," she suggested forcing her nervousness away. "Made right here in the state. Good choice for a first-timer."
As she left to fetch their drinks, Thragg surveyed the establishment. "This environment facilitates social bonding."
"That's its primary function," Nolan agreed. "Humans use shared consumption as a social lubricant, making interaction easier, less formal."
"The chemical effects of alcohol," Thragg said.
"Partly," Nolan acknowledged. "But it's more than that. It's the ritual of sharing, of sitting together in a neutral space.
Notice how the lighting is dim, creating intimacy? How the music is just loud enough for privacy without preventing conversation?"
"Deliberate environmental engineering for specific social outcomes," Thragg observed.
"Exactly," Nolan confirmed as Maggie returned with their drinks. "This is where I learned some of my most valuable lessons about humans."
"Elaborate," Thragg requested, sipping his bourbon carefully.
"I observed how they interact when relaxed, when formal barriers are lowered," Nolan explained, gesturing toward laughing patrons at the bar. "Look there - those people aren't family, probably not even close friends.
Just coworkers unwinding. But in this moment, they're forming bonds that make their professional collaboration more effective."
"Emotional connection enhancing practical functionality," Thragg noted thoughtfully.
"Yes," Nolan agreed. "Something Viltrumite culture traditionally dismisses, but which proves remarkably effective in practice."
They sat in companionable silence, observing the ebb and flow of human interaction around them.
"Debbie," Thragg said eventually. "When did she become more than a mission parameter to you?"
Nolan looked down at his drink, considering. "There wasn't a single moment," he admitted. "More a gradual shift. But if I had to identify a turning point... it was probably the first time she got sick while we were together."
"Illness?" Thragg inquired.
"Nothing serious," Nolan clarified. "Just a human virus, the flu. But seeing her vulnerable, being able to care for her in ways that had nothing to do with the mission... it changed something in me.
Made me accept that my concern for her had become genuine, not strategic."
"You experienced protective impulses beyond mission requirements," Thragg observed.
"Yes," Nolan confirmed. "And not just protection. I wanted her to be happy, to feel valued and supported. Not because it served some larger purpose, but simply because her wellbeing mattered to me."
"The human influence altered your priority structure," Thragg said thoughtfully.
"It did," Nolan acknowledged. "Not immediately, not completely - but profoundly, over time."
"There is another location I would observe," Thragg said finally.
"Where humans form pair bonds," he specified as they exited. "The environments designed for romantic interaction."
They soon landed near a street lined with restaurants and cafes, busy with couples walking hand in hand, dining at candlelit tables, browsing store displays together.
"Observe the physical contact," Nolan pointed out. "Humans use touch to reinforce emotional connection. Holding hands, linking arms, casual contact during conversation - all serve to maintain the pair bond."
Thragg watched intently as a young couple passed, the woman laughing, their fingers intertwined. "The physical disparity between Viltrumites and humans would require careful control during such interactions."
"It does," Nolan confirmed. "Constant awareness of your strength, your impact. But that awareness becomes second nature over time."
They paused near a small park where several couples sat on benches or strolled along illuminated paths.
"The diversity of interaction patterns is notable," Thragg observed. "Some pairs maintain constant physical contact, others minimal. Some engage in continuous verbal exchange, others in comfortable silence."
"Each relationship is unique," Nolan explained. "Shaped by the individuals involved, their preferences, histories, communication styles. What works for one pair might not work for another."
"Inefficient," Thragg noted, "Yet adaptive to individual variation."
After a moment of silence, Thragg spoke directly. "The human female, Amanda. Her reaction to receiving my former regalia was... unexpected."
And there it was - the real reason for this unusual evening. Nolan chose his response carefully. "Amanda values authenticity and directness. The gesture likely resonated with her because it was unexpected, personal rather than official."
"The cape holds significant symbolic value in Viltrumite culture," Thragg stated.
"Which she likely understands," Nolan acknowledged. "Making the gift even more meaningful from her perspective."
"Human pair bonding often begins with gift exchange?" Thragg asked.
"It can," Nolan confirmed. "Though the significance lies less in the object itself than in what it represents - attention, consideration, recognition of the other person's preferences or needs."
"I see," Thragg said thoughtfully.
They walked in silence a while longer before reaching the end of the district.
"Thank you for this perspective," Thragg said finally. "It has been... informative."
"Happy to help," Nolan replied. "If you have any other questions..."
"I will consult you if necessary," Thragg acknowledged with a nod. Then, without further ceremony, he launched himself into the night sky.
Nolan watched him go, a complex mixture of emotions playing across his features.
The evening had been surreal - showing the Grand Regent of Viltrum the basics of human courtship, discussing his relationship with Debbie, observing couples on dates together.
Yet beneath the strangeness, Nolan recognized something significant.
Thragg was changing, evolving in ways that paralleled, however distantly, his own adaptation to Earth.
This could be profound - not just for Amanda, but potentially for Earth and the Empire as a whole.
As Nolan took to the sky himself, heading home to explain his unusual evening to Debbie, he found himself wondering what this development might mean for the future.
A Thragg capable of genuine connection, of emotional consideration beyond strategic calculation, could be a very different ruler than the one who had first come to Earth.
Whether that difference would prove beneficial or dangerous remained to be seen.
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(Author note: So... Hope I wrote things right. Since just like Thragg I have only theory on these matters, no true experience.
Well, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter, do tell me how you found it and I hope to see you all later,
Bye!)