Six months after being launched into space, Leo, now one year old, had the appearance of a two-year-old boy. He had black hair and black pupils, smooth pale skin seemingly without blemish, and a straight, sharp nose — he could only be described as a beautiful child.
Inside his ship, he was devouring some of his supplies. As a child who grew faster than others, his daily caloric needs were more than double that of regular children. But that came with benefits: even as a child, his body had a well-defined physique, with muscles and fat coexisting in perfect balance.
Not long after, a loud sound echoed in the ship: "Red danger alert, meteor shower incoming!"
Leo's ship warned him of the immense danger approaching — a massive meteor shower was heading directly his way. Meteors ranging from 3 to 5 meters in diameter were visible to the naked eye, all coming straight toward him. There was little he could do aside from activating some of the ship's installed weapons.
"Shit, I must really be cursed by some god," Leo muttered, pressing buttons on the control panel.
He had just activated the ship's auto-detection system: anything moving within at least a hundred meters of the ship would be targeted by high-caliber weapons. But unfortunately for Leo, the ship's limited weaponry, developed on a not-so-advanced planet, wouldn't be enough to stop an entire meteor storm.
Leo did everything he could to avoid the meteors, accelerating and maneuvering the ship between massive rocks. The ship's A.I. was also a great help. With Leo's control and the A.I.'s calculations, they managed to dodge several of the larger meteors.
"Oh, come on, this has to be a joke...!" Leo growled as he spotted a meteor at least 15 meters wide on a direct collision course.
He fired everything he had at the center of the meteor, managing to break it into several large pieces. But some of those chunks still hit the ship. Loud impacts rang through the hull as Leo was thrown violently across the cabin, fracturing several bones.
Luckily, the meteor shower had passed. Leo had survived, but now faced a major problem: besides his fractured bones, the ship's directional sensor had been destroyed. He was now drifting aimlessly through space, his previous coordinates no longer usable.
Clutching his injured arm, Leo made his way to the ship's medical bay. He was no longer concerned about the meteor storm — that was over. Now, he just needed to recover from his broken arm and some minor internal injuries.
The ship's automated medical system activated — and, to be fair, that race had developed an excellent A.I. system. Leo's arm was put in a cast, and he was given bone-healing medication for a quicker recovery. It wouldn't take long. Unfortunately, his Viltrumite powers had yet to awaken, so he still needed to heal the slow way.
To Leo, the Viltrumite strength was great — but even more valuable was their advanced regeneration. An essential trait was their healing factor: they could emerge from battles near death and fully recover within weeks. If Leo were human and had his stomach pierced by some weapon, it would likely be game over. But as a Viltrumite, no — with some time, he'd be fine.
Leo left the ship drifting through space as he pondered his next move. With the directional sensor gone and unable to reach the planet his parents had marked, he needed to find a planet with oxygen just to survive. The ship's resources weren't infinite, and he knew it.
After a few days of healing with bone-repair medication, Leo made a full recovery. Now he manually steered the ship, searching for a planet with oxygen. Luckily, the ship's system could scan distant planets to detect signs of life.
Four more months passed. Leo was now 1 year and 4 months old, though he looked like a 3-year-old child. At that exact moment, Leo was happy — he had just found a planet with intelligent life, one he knew very well from the series: the Thraxan planet, home to Omni-Man's second son, Nolan's child.
The planet had a strange reddish-purple hue, but Leo didn't care — he just wanted to survive. The planet's color or whether the inhabitants looked like grasshoppers didn't matter. And since it wasn't far from Earth, Leo figured he hadn't been thrown too far off course. Still, he had no idea where in the story's timeline he was. He didn't want to be there when the Viltrumites came looking for Nolan. Before he could defend himself, he needed to awaken his powers. Without them, he wouldn't survive even a single strike from any Viltrumite.
"I'm lucky to have found this race. Even though they're aggressive, they're rational — they don't attack unless provoked. Plus, they choose their leader based on age, since they die young. It's a great place to start."
Leo thought to himself as he began his descent onto the planet.
After entering the planet's orbit, Leo switched his ship to automatic landing mode. As the ship touched down, several Thraxans who had witnessed it descending gathered around, weapons in hand. When the ship's doors began to open, they didn't rush in. The squad commander ordered his troops to wait until whatever was inside came out.
Moments later, Leo stepped out with the appearance of a 3-year-old. Thraxans, being a race capable of roughly assessing an individual's strength through observation and experience, stayed alert. But seeing Leo, their tension eased. They could tell he was slightly stronger than a regular Thraxan child, but not by much.
The commander sent a soldier to cautiously approach and retrieve Leo. Nothing happened. After that, they inspected the ship and found nothing out of the ordinary. It was a common vessel, and the boy appeared normal. With no threats identified, Leo was taken to a secure facility on the planet.
Apparently, the Thraxans held no malice toward him — but Leo hated the feeling of being at someone else's mercy. He didn't like the idea that his life could be taken at any moment.
They ran some tests and found that he was a normal child, with nothing particularly remarkable aside from his slower aging — at least compared to Thraxans. But that didn't surprise them. Many alien races aged more slowly than they did. Since Leo didn't appear useful, they didn't experiment further.
Time passed quickly. Leo was now 4 years old, with the appearance of an 8-year-old child. He had just awakened his powers.
He had spent the past few years living almost like a sub-species among the Thraxans — mistreated for being different. In the beginning, they drew his blood to try to create anti-aging medicine, but when it didn't work, they stopped. Since Leo had no other use, they treated him as disposable.
He was fed only once a day, which was a nightmare for his advanced caloric needs. His body wasn't as vigorous as it once was, but it was still strong for someone his age.
"It's time to begin my reign over this planet of inferior beings!"
Leo clenched his fist, feeling power course through his body. He knew he could smash through a wall without any effort now.