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Chapter 198: You Are Irrelevant VI

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Their casual conversation was soon interrupted by the arrival of a few individuals. Alien detection technology is extremely advanced in this world because they had to deal with aliens for a very long time.

As these certain individuals entered the coffee shop, everywhere within left as if they knew what was about to come, or perhaps they were used to such situations.

Unlike many of the other universes, Earth-38 had adapted to the existence of aliens, with the planet often struggling to accept alien immigrants and refugees as well as being home to many attempted invasions. 

Leading the group was none other than Supergirl, Superman's cousin. At the age of 13, Kara was sent to Earth to look after her cousin Kal-El. 

This did not go according to plan as after Krypton's explosion, shockwaves knocked the pod off-course and into the Phantom Zone. 

She arrived at Earth 24 years later, when Kal-El had grown up to become Superman. And now she's a firm defender of peace in her home city, National City.

Right next to her was her adoptive sister, Alex Danvers. She didn't come as her adoptive sister though but as the director of D.E.O.

Alex is just a normal human. She doesn't have the capabilities of Supergirl, but she climbed up the ladder of one of the most important organizations in the world.

The D.E.O. (Department of Extranormal Operations) is a U.S. government agency which investigates and processes alien activities. 

They're obviously good at their job because they were able to find Ian... Through cameras. They're basically monitoring the entire city, and Ian's image didn't synchronize with any identity, the first red flag.

The most important thing, however, was the fact that he appeared out of nowhere. Yeah, Ian didn't try hard enough to hide. In fact, he barely tried for some reason.

Alex Danvers took the lead, approaching Ian with caution, then she asked an odd question, "What are you doing with him? And what do you want from us?"

She was signaling to Dr. Manhattan which confused Ian quite a lot. His doubts were solved once he'd seen into her mind. 

He sees Dr. Manhattan as a naked blue humanoid creature. She sees Dr. Manhattan as a bald white man, kinda like how he looked before he became Dr. Manhattan, and he was certainly not naked.

In her eyes, he was an innocent man adorned in a brown suit, perhaps he was heading to work before he found himself in this situation. Yes, she thinks this is a kind of kidnapping, mainly because of how stiff Dr. Manhattan looks.

He not only looked stiff, but he also seemed frozen, not blinking. It was the first thing she noticed while surveying from afar, so she assume one of the most broken beings in the entire Omniverse to be a hostage.

"Pffttt hahaha haha," Ian let out an amused laugh as he eyed Dr. Manhattan, "Don't you find it funny?"

"No. I rather we continue our conversation, but I can wait." Dr. Manhattan shook his head and returned to his frozen state.

Alex narrowed her eyes, leaping backward as Supergirl took the lead. His words told them that he might also be an alien, or a human with no record whatsoever, no identity, no sighting at all.

"Who are you? And what do you want?" This time, it was Supergirl's turn to ask as she remained cautious, ready to act at the first sign of aggression.

"It's interesting, the thought process of immortals, or are they immortals?" Ian sized Supergirl up and down, a bit confused, 'Why did he fall in love with her at first glance? He's a reality warping imp for christ's sake.'

The driver he was waiting for is supposed to fall in love with her at first glance, and it truly confused him why he never had such a moment, 'Love at first sight huh... Sounds like a lie. Memories and times are the true forces capable of forming love.'

Ian feels like he has some love in him, very little as evident by his low energy of love, but it's still there, and it's growing with times and memories made with the ones he loves.

"But it's so uninteresting, isn't it? A show much greater than this would be required for me to be entertained." Ian murmured, seeming lost in thought. 

He thought he'd found himself interested, but he didn't, he just wanted to get it over with, so he waved his hand, creating a time barrier around him and Dr. Manhattan.

It was an indestructible barrier, but some can easily pass through it as long as they have control over time.

Supergirl truly tried to break the barrier, but it was a hopeless endeavor even with Superman soon involving himself in the situation.

The coffee shop was shut down almost immediately by the D.E.O, and they even closed off the entire area around it.

That gave the D.E.O the time to study the phenomenon surroundings these two individuals, and they noticed a very peculiar thing. Ian and Dr. Manhattan seemed to be moving in slow motion.

The action of Ian taking a sip of hot coffee took months, literally. They soon came to the conclusion that time moves differently within the barrier.

And there was nothing they could do but keep a close watch on the two odd beings, and make a few theories on their purpose. It was easy, Ian and Dr. Manhattan were waiting for someone or something.

And soon enough, that someone arrived, and Ian vanished from the coffee right away, "Hey!" A second later, he was standing before his target.

seated on the very top of a building was an odd old man. He was mostly bald with a few white looks on each side of his glowing head. He was very short, looking even weirder with his odd yellow tight clothes.

He was a bit of a mess, and his personality complements that very much because he loves pranks and chaos. It was none other than Mister Mxyzptlk, an imp from the Fifth Dimension.

Just when he was lost in his imagination, thinking of all the pranks he could pull off to wreak havoc across the city and even the world, someone he didn't expect appeared.

"Mm, do I know you?" Mister Mxyzptlk questioned with puzzlement.

"Yeah, of course. I'm a fellow resident of the fifth dimension, but I kinda lost my memory. Mind being a guide?" Ian innocently smiled as he answered.

"Are you? Really?" Mister Mxyzptlk sized Ian up, seeming doubtful. So to make sure, he snapped his finger but nothing happened, "Not working? Tried a prank on you, but it didn't work, so I half believe you."

Mister Mxyzptlk was quite the bizarre creature. He absolutely has no interest in killing anyone or harming them too much. 

He'd rather make them go mad with his pranks, so Ian knows that he might've tried a prank on him, and the only reason it didn't succeed was because of the white light of life.

The white light of Life's reality alteration while not as strong as that of the imps from the fifth dimension, it's still potent enough to protect Ian from being toyed with.

"If you succeed in doing it to me, then I'll guide you." Mister Mxyzptlk while a creature capable of reality alteration, is actually very innocent. Most interesting of all, he doesn't lie.

'Doing it to you?' Ian set those dirty thoughts aside and focused on meeting Mister Mxyzptlk's criteria which shouldn't be possible considering he should also be immune to reality warping powers, to a certain extent at least.

So Ian manifested his staff as he froze time. He then hit Mister Mxyzptlk right on the head. The hit was so perfectly calculated it created a bright red mountain on top of the imp's head.

Mister Mxyzptlk was confused, bewildered. He was largely resistant to time powers, and he should've been able to resist Ian's move.

However, he could only feel pain as he jumped around and the residues of time manipulation, "Aw awwa awa ayayay!"

Ian let out a small laugh, "Well, It just reality warped a mouth on top of your head. Sweet, no?"

"Aww... I guess?" Mister Mxyzptlk murmured as he gently caressed the red mountain, said to be one of the Seven Wonders of the world.

And just when Superman and Supergirl arrived close to them, the two of Ian and Mister Mxyzptlk vanished, leaving basically everyone confused.

Honestly, things would've been much easier if he could read Mister Mxyzptlk's mind, but the thing was very resistant to it.

Ian's psychic powers were still a bit limited which is why he has yet to notice a very interesting thing happening, the greatest conspiracy to ever take place across the Multiverse.