To the 10th
Jul. 7th, 2012 09:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
akinoameTo The 10th Power
Chapter: Vilgax
Notes: Sorry for Vilgax being more of a DCAU villain than canon. I tried my best.
1
Genius
Vilgax is the most feared being in the entire Milky Way, but he didn’t get that way overnight.
To say that his people aren’t fighters is a bit of an exaggeration—something to be told to young men with hero complexes who are otherwise not inclined to help you in any way, shape, or form. But there is a grain of truth in it: the Chimera sui Generis were once hailed as brilliant scientists and engineers, their greatness rivaled only by the Galvan. But a series of civil wars all but destroyed their culture as instable ruler after instable ruler took control of their planet. The planet’s name has been changed so many times that even Vilgax doesn’t remember its original name anymore; it was wiped from the history archives many generations ago.
Vilgax conquered his homeworld many years before his young nemesis was born, and he’d done so with a combination of ruthlessness and cunning. What many people forget is that Vilgax is a genius in his own right; he knows exactly how hard to quell rebellions so his people will respectfully fear him, but how far not to go so that they will not hate him. He knew to maintain a fleet and travel the galaxy to strike terror into the hearts of the righteous, all while bringing valuable wealth back home to his people. He researched every single powerful artifact that came to his attention, from the sacred crystal of Petropia to the mysterious Omnitrix. And when his temper caused him to consistently lose against an obnoxious child from Earth, he drew on all his remaining patience and waited, conquering ten worlds and finding a valuable advisor before he returned to try to take the Omnitrix once more.
Whatever he can find that may aid him, he puts to use: Osmosian splicing technology and bioids, obscure laws governing lawful invasion, an escapee from the Omnitrix, the Omnitrix-bearer himself, a genius trapped in a body not his own. All of them have aided him in his rise to power, and all have hated themselves for it.
Truth be told, when the Plumbers speak of his savagery and how impossible it is to survive against him, they are vastly underestimating him.
2
Pride
Though he will never admit it, Vilgax is perhaps the single person in the universe proudest of Ben Tennyson after he defeated him in a battle between Ultimates. More than anyone else he has faced in his long life, Ben was the only one who ever truly was his equal. And it wasn’t just because he had the Omnitrix; that fool Albedo had the Ultimatrix, and look how far it got him. No, for all the others who have faced him and lived to tell the tale are praised as geniuses and heroes, Vilgax knows the truth. They are incompetent fools, saved by their luck alone—including Max Tennyson, who knows this fact well and takes it to heart. Ben, however, is a prodigy, and only Vilgax can recognize it. For his age, he is remarkably skilled in battle and tactics—far more than anyone even a hundred times his age—and what he lacks in skill he makes up for in raw nerve and a willingness to learn and improvise. And yes, that damnable luck as well, though he’s resourceful enough not to rely on it too much. Had things been different, perhaps he would have made a valuable ally.
When Ben faced him in the Conqueror’s Challenge, his ego inflated and mistaking luck for skill, no one was more disappointed in him than Vilgax. When he struck Chromastone down and took the Omnitrix for himself, he knew it was a hollow victory, for all he had finally claimed his long sought-for treasure. But when Ben revived himself from the wreckage of his alien body, it was almost enough to make up for it, and Vilgax could at least feel that he had been respectfully defeated when Diamondhead improvised his way to victory. And in each skirmish between then and their as-yet final battle, he searched hard for a sign of the cunning devil who had always thwarted him, as if Ben was the incarnation of each and every demon from childhood superstitions long since forgotten.
But when Ben set off the self-destruct right there, without a trace of emotion, he saw the demon for what he truly was. He was no devil, nor was he a child any longer. He was a grown man, one whom Vilgax had to take seriously and could not afford not to believe in like some bogeyman. And when Ben escaped him and the explosion with something between genius and luck, Vilgax knew that the next time he fought him—when he finally watched that indomitable heart beat its last—it would be an honor to take his life.
3
Enigma
The biggest enigma Vilgax has ever come across is neither the Omnitrix nor Ben Tennyson. It’s his own herald, Psyphon. Psyphon arrived out of the blue one day, dropping to his knees before Vilgax and bringing to his attention the long-forgotten Conqueror’s Challenge. When Vilgax asked what good it would do him, Psyphon presented the energy transfer device and told him it would be the one chance he would have at matching the Omnitrix.
Psyphon asked for nothing in return other than to be Vilgax’s herald and advisor. And since he’s clearly not stupid enough to be doing it out of the goodness of his heart, Vilgax doesn’t trust him. As a precaution, he secretly injected nanotech explosives into Psyphon’s body. When Psyphon inevitably tries to betray him, Vilgax will detonate the devices.
What he doesn’t know is that Psyphon removed those devices long ago.
4
Rebellion
Not everyone on Vilgaxia is in awe of their Emperor. There is a small resistance group in the shadows, the Order of the Kraken, led by a charismatic and prudent young Chimera named Praxis. Some say that he is the Chimera equivalent to Ben Tennyson, through Praxis himself is quick to point out that he prefers the shadows more than Tennyson does. He carefully draws people into his organization, never actively recruiting out of fear that they will be discovered. Absolutely everything he does, he handles with care. When Ghostfreak briefly took over the planet, Praxis warned his followers not to get too comfortable with the idea that Vilgax was gone; he would certainly be back. In the meantime, they had to fight off Ghostfreak and protect their families. And when Vilgax did return, Praxis talked down the more hotheaded members of his organization who advocated assassinating him now while his power was weak. He argued that they needed time to ensure that the planet’s politics would be stable. Besides, Vilgax had just secured himself as the savior of his people. Any legitimate government they tried to set up after would be rejected, and their planet would be plunged into chaos once more. The most they could afford to do was destroy Ghostfreak’s fleet to avoid it falling into their tyrant’s hands.
Vilgax knows of this organization, each of its members, and its hidden bases. He knows because he set it up himself; Praxis is and always has been on his payroll. When Praxis asked his Emperor why he didn’t just wipe everyone out all at once, Vilgax explained that he preferred to know who his enemies were and who might be tempted to join them. For now, Praxis leads them in circles, waiting until the time is right and he and his Emperor destroy them all.
5
Here I am God
Vilgax is capable of showing mercy, and quite a few people have seen it. But all of these people were fellow Chimera sui Generis.
It’s why they love him. He’s restored honor and glory to their planet, given them back the wealth and prestige so many conquerors before had stripped of them. Where once they had been slaves, most intellectuals killed off while only the strong survived, he has given them freedom and ensured that they can build a new culture, built as much on the book as on the sword.
They have profited from his conquests and destructions. The wealth of Petropia has gone to their scientists and military. Their agriculture has flourished from the resources of other planets. Crime has been all but eliminated, and not one child goes hungry.
So when he breaks off from fighting Ghostfreak’s clones to rescue a little girl, none of his people would have been surprised.
Because they are his responsibility, and when they count on him to protect them, he will do everything in his power to do so.
6
Mortal
There is a story that Vilgax remembers from his years running as a mercenary before returning to conquer his planet. Millennia ago, the most feared conquerors of the galaxy were held as gods among the vanquished. They claimed planets, enslaving whole races, and easily wiping out their enemies. Their technology was so advanced that the primitive peoples they crushed believed it could only be divine. And for all the people were oppressed, they considered it an honor to be simply left alive by their gods—this proved that such terrible beings held them in favor, and the more they pleased their gods, the more they would be rewarded with life.
These conquerors have dwindled to near nothing now, and all to a simple but fatal mistake: they came to believe that they were gods. Once they believed they were divine, they believed they were invulnerable, and they failed to be cautious. Rebels among their slaves were able to work in secret, their personalities not analyzed with nearly as much scrutiny as they should have been. They ignored new technologies being developed among the people and the influence of other races in war.
The few who remain are either very powerful (and only setting themselves up to fall) or very smart (and more difficult to defeat). The lesson has taught Vilgax that he must never believe himself to be a god.
To the Chimera sui Generis, he is their godlike emperor.
To the Flame Keepers, he is the great Diagon.
But Vilgax keeps in mind the taunts of Ben Tennyson and holds them close.
He is Vilgax, the being trapped in an Earth aquarium and unable to shift forms, defeated by a sixteen-year-old child who first bested him at ten.
And that knowledge of his own limitations makes him more powerful than any of the so-called gods before him.
7
I read your book!
A closely guarded secret is that Vilgax has written several books on how to govern nations and seize worlds, all under various pseudonyms, of course. They’re amazingly insightful, providing would-be rulers and conquerors the political and military knowledge they need to introduce peace and stability in their realms.
It’s made these territories so much easier for him to take for his own.
The one rule he never wrote down was this: Never believe your power is absolute.
8
The only thing we have to fear is…
Vilgax has never feared the Highbreed, for he knew they were a dying race. He did not particularly fear Aggregor, knowing that his method of absorbing power left his mind unstable, focused too much on one particular goal to realize that he could be god already if he weren’t so intent on the Forge of Creation. The Forge itself, that fairytale, only leaves some misgiving in his mind, that no being should be allowed to be as powerful as the Celestialsapiens. As long as they are frozen in eternal debate, he is resigned to their existence. That spares him the deadly knowledge that were they to fight, no universe would be spared their wrath.
But he does fear himself. Fears that he will forget why he is fighting and conquering, that he will once again be reduced to that pitiful string of losses against such a brat as Tennyson. That his pride will once again get the better of him, and because of it, his empire will topple. That he will forget to learn from his defeats and instead let them fester and fuel his rage.
That he will be rage without focus, without reason, without a mind.
If his enemies must win, he allows them their victory. He tries not to lose his temper over one meager loss. He needs to plan ahead, whether in his palace or in this aquarium.
To lose may be the only way he can win, if over his own fear at least.
9
Contingency
When Tennyson tells him that Vilgaxia has fallen with his absence, he knows it is a lie. He made a contingency plan just in case.
Praxis and the Order of the Kraken have “conquered” the planet and are ruling it in his absence. By now, they are trying to stabilize everything, trying to win over the people’s hearts.
When Vilgax is able to escape, Praxis will hand him a more stable planet—not nearly as stable as it had been when he’d left it, but enough so that it won’t rebel again. It also has been so depleted that no one sane will think of rebelling when their Emperor can return them to prosperity.
The Order will be publicly executed for high treason, all save for Praxis, who will be spirited away to a small moon Vilgax has provided for him as a reward. For service to the Emperor, he will be greatly rewarded, with riches and his own colony and a new identity so he can escape retribution.
And so he doesn’t think of betraying his Emperor in reality.
Because if there’s anything Vilgax has learned, it’s the need to plan in case of failure, and he will always have a plan.
10
In the belly of the beast
It is in the belly of the beast, the great creature Diagon, that Vilgax waits, fights, plans, and realizes.
He knows where he made his mistake. He allowed his desire for power to overwhelm his reason. He will rectify this immediately, if he has to tear Diagon’s heart out from the inside.
But for all the great dragon tries to digest him, he feels safe. Safe in the knowledge that he has not completely lost himself, that he has not become what he fears—a pitiful fool losing constantly to an overbearing child.
He has changed much over the years. Once, he never would have thought of bothering to save his homeworld, but now he has an empire that is his blessing and bounty. He was once impetuous, relying on fear tactics and power to conquer. Now, he plans better and resigns himself to a few losses as long as he can benefit in the long run. For all he will always hate Tennyson, he can at least now write him off as a minor annoyance on occasion, while taking care not to let the boy come too close to sabotaging his plans.
He will be the one who survives, not this ancient beast who feeds on psyches. His mind is his own, and he will see to it that Diagon will starve.
It is how he will win and how he will be the one to face the Tennyson clan and their new pet immortal. This is only a brief setback. When he returns, he will be more powerful than before. He will have fought the dragon and won.
But until then, he must wait, continuing this slow fight, until the dragon’s heart beats its last.
I'm afraid that I may have made Vilgax come off as a lot smarter than he did in canon, particularly toward the end of UA. Also, "Diagon" is a stupid spelling.
#5 obliquely refers to the Goa'uld of Stargate SG-1, the title for #6 is from a line by Darkseid in the final episode of Superman: The Animated Series, #7's title is from Patton, and #8's title is part of the famous "fear itself" quote by Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Chapter: Vilgax
Notes: Sorry for Vilgax being more of a DCAU villain than canon. I tried my best.
Genius
Vilgax is the most feared being in the entire Milky Way, but he didn’t get that way overnight.
To say that his people aren’t fighters is a bit of an exaggeration—something to be told to young men with hero complexes who are otherwise not inclined to help you in any way, shape, or form. But there is a grain of truth in it: the Chimera sui Generis were once hailed as brilliant scientists and engineers, their greatness rivaled only by the Galvan. But a series of civil wars all but destroyed their culture as instable ruler after instable ruler took control of their planet. The planet’s name has been changed so many times that even Vilgax doesn’t remember its original name anymore; it was wiped from the history archives many generations ago.
Vilgax conquered his homeworld many years before his young nemesis was born, and he’d done so with a combination of ruthlessness and cunning. What many people forget is that Vilgax is a genius in his own right; he knows exactly how hard to quell rebellions so his people will respectfully fear him, but how far not to go so that they will not hate him. He knew to maintain a fleet and travel the galaxy to strike terror into the hearts of the righteous, all while bringing valuable wealth back home to his people. He researched every single powerful artifact that came to his attention, from the sacred crystal of Petropia to the mysterious Omnitrix. And when his temper caused him to consistently lose against an obnoxious child from Earth, he drew on all his remaining patience and waited, conquering ten worlds and finding a valuable advisor before he returned to try to take the Omnitrix once more.
Whatever he can find that may aid him, he puts to use: Osmosian splicing technology and bioids, obscure laws governing lawful invasion, an escapee from the Omnitrix, the Omnitrix-bearer himself, a genius trapped in a body not his own. All of them have aided him in his rise to power, and all have hated themselves for it.
Truth be told, when the Plumbers speak of his savagery and how impossible it is to survive against him, they are vastly underestimating him.
Pride
Though he will never admit it, Vilgax is perhaps the single person in the universe proudest of Ben Tennyson after he defeated him in a battle between Ultimates. More than anyone else he has faced in his long life, Ben was the only one who ever truly was his equal. And it wasn’t just because he had the Omnitrix; that fool Albedo had the Ultimatrix, and look how far it got him. No, for all the others who have faced him and lived to tell the tale are praised as geniuses and heroes, Vilgax knows the truth. They are incompetent fools, saved by their luck alone—including Max Tennyson, who knows this fact well and takes it to heart. Ben, however, is a prodigy, and only Vilgax can recognize it. For his age, he is remarkably skilled in battle and tactics—far more than anyone even a hundred times his age—and what he lacks in skill he makes up for in raw nerve and a willingness to learn and improvise. And yes, that damnable luck as well, though he’s resourceful enough not to rely on it too much. Had things been different, perhaps he would have made a valuable ally.
When Ben faced him in the Conqueror’s Challenge, his ego inflated and mistaking luck for skill, no one was more disappointed in him than Vilgax. When he struck Chromastone down and took the Omnitrix for himself, he knew it was a hollow victory, for all he had finally claimed his long sought-for treasure. But when Ben revived himself from the wreckage of his alien body, it was almost enough to make up for it, and Vilgax could at least feel that he had been respectfully defeated when Diamondhead improvised his way to victory. And in each skirmish between then and their as-yet final battle, he searched hard for a sign of the cunning devil who had always thwarted him, as if Ben was the incarnation of each and every demon from childhood superstitions long since forgotten.
But when Ben set off the self-destruct right there, without a trace of emotion, he saw the demon for what he truly was. He was no devil, nor was he a child any longer. He was a grown man, one whom Vilgax had to take seriously and could not afford not to believe in like some bogeyman. And when Ben escaped him and the explosion with something between genius and luck, Vilgax knew that the next time he fought him—when he finally watched that indomitable heart beat its last—it would be an honor to take his life.
Enigma
The biggest enigma Vilgax has ever come across is neither the Omnitrix nor Ben Tennyson. It’s his own herald, Psyphon. Psyphon arrived out of the blue one day, dropping to his knees before Vilgax and bringing to his attention the long-forgotten Conqueror’s Challenge. When Vilgax asked what good it would do him, Psyphon presented the energy transfer device and told him it would be the one chance he would have at matching the Omnitrix.
Psyphon asked for nothing in return other than to be Vilgax’s herald and advisor. And since he’s clearly not stupid enough to be doing it out of the goodness of his heart, Vilgax doesn’t trust him. As a precaution, he secretly injected nanotech explosives into Psyphon’s body. When Psyphon inevitably tries to betray him, Vilgax will detonate the devices.
What he doesn’t know is that Psyphon removed those devices long ago.
Rebellion
Not everyone on Vilgaxia is in awe of their Emperor. There is a small resistance group in the shadows, the Order of the Kraken, led by a charismatic and prudent young Chimera named Praxis. Some say that he is the Chimera equivalent to Ben Tennyson, through Praxis himself is quick to point out that he prefers the shadows more than Tennyson does. He carefully draws people into his organization, never actively recruiting out of fear that they will be discovered. Absolutely everything he does, he handles with care. When Ghostfreak briefly took over the planet, Praxis warned his followers not to get too comfortable with the idea that Vilgax was gone; he would certainly be back. In the meantime, they had to fight off Ghostfreak and protect their families. And when Vilgax did return, Praxis talked down the more hotheaded members of his organization who advocated assassinating him now while his power was weak. He argued that they needed time to ensure that the planet’s politics would be stable. Besides, Vilgax had just secured himself as the savior of his people. Any legitimate government they tried to set up after would be rejected, and their planet would be plunged into chaos once more. The most they could afford to do was destroy Ghostfreak’s fleet to avoid it falling into their tyrant’s hands.
Vilgax knows of this organization, each of its members, and its hidden bases. He knows because he set it up himself; Praxis is and always has been on his payroll. When Praxis asked his Emperor why he didn’t just wipe everyone out all at once, Vilgax explained that he preferred to know who his enemies were and who might be tempted to join them. For now, Praxis leads them in circles, waiting until the time is right and he and his Emperor destroy them all.
Here I am God
Vilgax is capable of showing mercy, and quite a few people have seen it. But all of these people were fellow Chimera sui Generis.
It’s why they love him. He’s restored honor and glory to their planet, given them back the wealth and prestige so many conquerors before had stripped of them. Where once they had been slaves, most intellectuals killed off while only the strong survived, he has given them freedom and ensured that they can build a new culture, built as much on the book as on the sword.
They have profited from his conquests and destructions. The wealth of Petropia has gone to their scientists and military. Their agriculture has flourished from the resources of other planets. Crime has been all but eliminated, and not one child goes hungry.
So when he breaks off from fighting Ghostfreak’s clones to rescue a little girl, none of his people would have been surprised.
Because they are his responsibility, and when they count on him to protect them, he will do everything in his power to do so.
Mortal
There is a story that Vilgax remembers from his years running as a mercenary before returning to conquer his planet. Millennia ago, the most feared conquerors of the galaxy were held as gods among the vanquished. They claimed planets, enslaving whole races, and easily wiping out their enemies. Their technology was so advanced that the primitive peoples they crushed believed it could only be divine. And for all the people were oppressed, they considered it an honor to be simply left alive by their gods—this proved that such terrible beings held them in favor, and the more they pleased their gods, the more they would be rewarded with life.
These conquerors have dwindled to near nothing now, and all to a simple but fatal mistake: they came to believe that they were gods. Once they believed they were divine, they believed they were invulnerable, and they failed to be cautious. Rebels among their slaves were able to work in secret, their personalities not analyzed with nearly as much scrutiny as they should have been. They ignored new technologies being developed among the people and the influence of other races in war.
The few who remain are either very powerful (and only setting themselves up to fall) or very smart (and more difficult to defeat). The lesson has taught Vilgax that he must never believe himself to be a god.
To the Chimera sui Generis, he is their godlike emperor.
To the Flame Keepers, he is the great Diagon.
But Vilgax keeps in mind the taunts of Ben Tennyson and holds them close.
He is Vilgax, the being trapped in an Earth aquarium and unable to shift forms, defeated by a sixteen-year-old child who first bested him at ten.
And that knowledge of his own limitations makes him more powerful than any of the so-called gods before him.
I read your book!
A closely guarded secret is that Vilgax has written several books on how to govern nations and seize worlds, all under various pseudonyms, of course. They’re amazingly insightful, providing would-be rulers and conquerors the political and military knowledge they need to introduce peace and stability in their realms.
It’s made these territories so much easier for him to take for his own.
The one rule he never wrote down was this: Never believe your power is absolute.
The only thing we have to fear is…
Vilgax has never feared the Highbreed, for he knew they were a dying race. He did not particularly fear Aggregor, knowing that his method of absorbing power left his mind unstable, focused too much on one particular goal to realize that he could be god already if he weren’t so intent on the Forge of Creation. The Forge itself, that fairytale, only leaves some misgiving in his mind, that no being should be allowed to be as powerful as the Celestialsapiens. As long as they are frozen in eternal debate, he is resigned to their existence. That spares him the deadly knowledge that were they to fight, no universe would be spared their wrath.
But he does fear himself. Fears that he will forget why he is fighting and conquering, that he will once again be reduced to that pitiful string of losses against such a brat as Tennyson. That his pride will once again get the better of him, and because of it, his empire will topple. That he will forget to learn from his defeats and instead let them fester and fuel his rage.
That he will be rage without focus, without reason, without a mind.
If his enemies must win, he allows them their victory. He tries not to lose his temper over one meager loss. He needs to plan ahead, whether in his palace or in this aquarium.
To lose may be the only way he can win, if over his own fear at least.
Contingency
When Tennyson tells him that Vilgaxia has fallen with his absence, he knows it is a lie. He made a contingency plan just in case.
Praxis and the Order of the Kraken have “conquered” the planet and are ruling it in his absence. By now, they are trying to stabilize everything, trying to win over the people’s hearts.
When Vilgax is able to escape, Praxis will hand him a more stable planet—not nearly as stable as it had been when he’d left it, but enough so that it won’t rebel again. It also has been so depleted that no one sane will think of rebelling when their Emperor can return them to prosperity.
The Order will be publicly executed for high treason, all save for Praxis, who will be spirited away to a small moon Vilgax has provided for him as a reward. For service to the Emperor, he will be greatly rewarded, with riches and his own colony and a new identity so he can escape retribution.
And so he doesn’t think of betraying his Emperor in reality.
Because if there’s anything Vilgax has learned, it’s the need to plan in case of failure, and he will always have a plan.
In the belly of the beast
It is in the belly of the beast, the great creature Diagon, that Vilgax waits, fights, plans, and realizes.
He knows where he made his mistake. He allowed his desire for power to overwhelm his reason. He will rectify this immediately, if he has to tear Diagon’s heart out from the inside.
But for all the great dragon tries to digest him, he feels safe. Safe in the knowledge that he has not completely lost himself, that he has not become what he fears—a pitiful fool losing constantly to an overbearing child.
He has changed much over the years. Once, he never would have thought of bothering to save his homeworld, but now he has an empire that is his blessing and bounty. He was once impetuous, relying on fear tactics and power to conquer. Now, he plans better and resigns himself to a few losses as long as he can benefit in the long run. For all he will always hate Tennyson, he can at least now write him off as a minor annoyance on occasion, while taking care not to let the boy come too close to sabotaging his plans.
He will be the one who survives, not this ancient beast who feeds on psyches. His mind is his own, and he will see to it that Diagon will starve.
It is how he will win and how he will be the one to face the Tennyson clan and their new pet immortal. This is only a brief setback. When he returns, he will be more powerful than before. He will have fought the dragon and won.
But until then, he must wait, continuing this slow fight, until the dragon’s heart beats its last.
I'm afraid that I may have made Vilgax come off as a lot smarter than he did in canon, particularly toward the end of UA. Also, "Diagon" is a stupid spelling.
#5 obliquely refers to the Goa'uld of Stargate SG-1, the title for #6 is from a line by Darkseid in the final episode of Superman: The Animated Series, #7's title is from Patton, and #8's title is part of the famous "fear itself" quote by Franklin D. Roosevelt.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-08-28 02:37 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-08-29 12:17 am (UTC)