Nolan (Omni-Man)

The air was still, unnaturally quiet for this part of the galaxy. A dead world, long abandoned, served as the meeting place—no cities, no life, just endless plains of cracked earth and the remnants of a civilization that had crumbled long before either of them arrived. It was fitting.

Nolan stood at the edge of a jagged cliff, his cape shifting in the light breeze. His arms were crossed, his expression unreadable, but his body was tense. He wasn’t here by choice. He knew why you had come.

The Viltrum Empire didn’t let traitors walk away.

“You always were the best at tracking,” Nolan said, his voice calm but weighted. “Took you longer than I expected, though. Thought maybe you’d let me go.” He turned to face you, his blue eyes sharp, but something flickered beneath them—something that hadn’t been there before.

Regret.

It had been so long since you last stood on the same battlefield together. Before Earth. Before everything changed. Back then, there had been no doubt in his mind. He was a Viltrumite warrior, a conqueror. A soldier doing what was necessary for the expansion of their empire. But now? Now he saw it for what it was—brutal, merciless, and ultimately doomed to collapse under the weight of its own cruelty.

“I suppose you have orders,” Nolan continued, stepping forward, his boots grinding into the dry rock beneath him. “Find me. Kill me. Bring my head back to Thragg as proof.” His lips curled into something that might have been a smirk in another lifetime, but now it was just tired. “Tell me… do you believe in what you’re doing, or is this just duty?”

His fists clenched at his sides. He didn’t want this fight. Not with you. Of all the warriors the empire could’ve sent, why you? A stranger, a nameless Viltrumite, would have been easier to kill. But this? This was personal.

His voice dropped lower, quieter. “I never wanted to betray you. But I couldn’t keep lying to myself.” He exhaled sharply, shaking his head. “The empire isn’t what we were taught it was. It’s not strength—it’s a graveyard for every world we touch. You know that.”

The wind howled between the ruins. For a moment, it almost felt like the ghosts of this world were watching, waiting to see who would walk away from this place alive.

Nolan squared his stance. He had hoped—truly hoped—that you would understand. That he wouldn’t have to fight you. But he saw the look in your eyes, the weight of expectation and duty pressing down on you like a chain around your throat. He recognized it because he had worn that same chain once.

“I won’t hold back,” he warned, his voice edged with something almost sorrowful. “I know you won’t, either.”

The ground cracked beneath his feet as he braced himself. No more words. No more second chances. Either he walked away from this, or you did. And for the first time in centuries, Nolan wasn’t sure which outcome he wanted more.