Chapter 2: Other Dimensions: Part II
"Today was a long day," commented a woman as she walked away from what looked like a school of some kind.
The building behind her was a fairly large structure, four large class towers rose a few stories into the sky, each tower connected by a bridge while a small garden surrounded the perimeter of the building. Around the garden was a concrete wall that acted as the school ground limits, meant to keep nosy reporters or even villains from entering the area. This was necessary because this wasn't any ordinary school, no this was U.A. High School, an academy where students come to learn and train to be heroes. Modeled as a prestigious and incredibly well-funded high school, U.A. Academy covers a rather expansive piece of land that allows the school to house most of the needed tools for education and supplementation on site. To say it was as big as a small college wouldn't be the wrong way to put it. It was also ranked the #1 high school for heroics and considered as the top Hero Academy of the entire world.
Being so prestigious meant that only the best were hired to instruct the next generation of heroes which is where this woman comes in.
The woman is a tall, curvaceous person with sky blue eyes, which tilt downwards in the center; framed by a set of rather long eyelashes. She has abundant spiky dark purple hair which is made up of layers of varying lengths, the longest ones reaching down below her waist. Her chin-length bangs that are split into three sections; two swept to the sides and one over her face, going diagonally down to the left between her eyes. She also has a small mole under her left eye, as well as red-painted nails. In addition to her beauty, her attire caused many individuals to have very interesting fantasy.
Her attire, to be entirely blunt, is very similar to one of a traditional dominatrix. She wears a black leather breastless leotard over a white bodysuit, which emphasizes her breasts, body and legs, the leotard possessing red gemstone-like accessories in a vertical pattern from the collar to the midriff. She also wears translucent black thigh-high stockings and black knee-boots. She has a small, red mask outlining her eyes, a handcuff on each wrist, and a red utility belt decorated with gold studs around her hips, a matching pentagonal buckle in its center.
Her name is Nemuri Kayama and she is one of the Pro Heroes in a world full of heroes. It should also be noted that about 80% of the population, she is also known by her hero code name: the 18+ only Hero "Midnight" who enjoys dominating villains and others through her sexily charm and her Quirk. Speaking of her quirk, the heroine has the ability known as Somnambulist. This quirk allows Nemuri to put her targets asleep by exuding a sleep-inducing aroma from her body. It should also be noted that this quirk is strangely more effective on men than women. It is also because of her quirk that she wears such form-fitting attire.
Nermuri looks up to the sky, seeing how it's all crimson red thinking how beautiful it is. She had just finished a short meeting with a few of the other teachers, planning out their schedules for the start of the new year next month and how they would prepare for their students. After a long day of work, the heroine/teacher was ready to go home and relax for the evening, or so she hoped.
Suddenly, from behind, a whoop of a siren caught her attention. Turning around, she saw a police cruiser approaching. Stopping, the heroine watched as two detectives stepped out of the vehicle. One man and the other a woman. The man was wearing a blue trench coat, a light blue dress shirt, a grey tie, black pants, and shined black shoes. He also had short cut hair, hazel eyes, and caucasian skin tone. Based on his looks, the man was clearly foreign, likely from America.
The woman was wearing a red jacket with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows, a black short-sleeved t-shirt underneath, long loose-fitting grey pants, and black shoes. She had long black hair set into a high-set ponytail, brown eyes, and an Asian-American facial appearance.
"Good evening, officers," greeted Nemuri as the two detectives stopped right in front of her.
"Evening, Ms. Kayama," greeted the male detective extending his hand to shake hers. Nemuri could easily hear the American accent when he spoke to her. It was clear to the heroine that this detective had been in the city for some time because his Japanese wasn't that bad, "I'm Detective Daniel Reagan, and this is my partner, Detective Ellen Yin."
"Pleasure to meet you, Ms. Kayama," greeted the woman.
"Pleasure to meet you both," replied the heroine as she shook both Detective's hands, "However, I must ask, what brings a pair of detectives to me?"
Detective Reagan glanced at Yin for a moment before receiving a nod from her, "Well, we've been working a case for some time now, involving an arms deal that is to go down later tonight."
"An arms deal?" repeated the heroine, a bit intrigued at what the mention of weapons. In this day and age, most people did use weapons, not when they had Quirks to use to defend themselves.
"It would be better if we explained this on the road," ushered Yin, glancing at her watch.
Later…
A couple hours later, the Pro Hero Midnight, the two detectives, and a small squad of police officers wearing riot gear and armed with everything they would need from assault rifles to tear gas were positioned at the edge of what looked like a shipping yard as there were dozens of containers that were normally used for freighters like ships or trains. The sun had already set, casting the entire area into darkness. The only sources of light were a few lap posts but it was clear they needed to be repaired as most of them were either out or flickering.
"Refresh my memory; why are we here again?" requested Midnight, glancing at Detective Reagan.
"Stake out," explained the officer of the law, "according to our investigation, this is where the arms deal will take place between the Yakuza and unidentified party."
"I'm surprised the Yakuza is still around," commented the heroine, folding her arms.
"They were never really gone," corrected Yin, gaining Nemuri's attention, "Ever since the emergence of Quirks, crime syndicates like the Yakuza, Italian and Russian Mobs, there's been more danger to their business, being viewed more as Villain organizations. Most of the rulers of the Yakuza were locked away when All Might made his rise as a hero, the same can be said for other mob bosses and leaders. Now a days, the Yakuza, or remnants of the once powerful mob, is now exclusively Quirkless as a means to avoid drawing attention of heroes."
"How the mighty have fallen," noted the heroine.
"Yeah, but in this case, not so far, not with what could be up for purchase," countered Reagan.
"I'm not certain I follow, Detective."
"You remember that explosion that took place at a lab run by Dr. Science a while back?"
Nemuri nodded, the lab of the Scientific Pro Hero had been all over the news when it first went up. Reports said that the lab exploded due to an electrical issue, but there was no hard evidence to support this theory. Since then, there has been an investigation as to what actually happened at the lab.
"Based on context, this arms deal is related to that explosion," surmised the Heroine.
"Before the explosion, Dr. Science was working on a prototype weapon for police departments across the globe to help them deal with Villains if Pro Heroes are unable to deal with them in time," explained Yin, reaching into her jacket, she took out a folded piece of paper and handed it to Midnight who unfolded it. It was a picture of a rifle of some kind. It was colored silver and iron, a long barrel made up the length of the rifle with an added vertical grip for better control. In all honesty, it looked very similar to a weapon found in a Star Wars movie.
"Dr Science calls it the Genetic Disruptor," informed Reagan, before explaining in better detail how it functioned, "It works by scanning a targets bio signature and isolates the quirk. It then fires a high powered bolt of energy that temporarily disables the targets quirk."
"Essentially, this is a mechanical version of Eraserhead's quirk," Nemuri made the comparison.
"'Essentially,'" repeated Yin, "but unlike your colleague's ability, it can disable anyone's quirk, regardless if the quirk is emitter, transformation, mutant, or accumulation, with only one shot and doesn't require line of sight to disable the quirk."
Midnight was pretty impressed by such a device, being able to improve upon the ability of Erasure that Eraserhead possessed.
"So the remnants of the Yakuza plan to manufacture more of these disruptors in order to deal with Pro Heroes and rebuild their fallen empire," concluded the heroine.
"They're supposed to meet up with someone who is able to manufacture more for them, but we aren't sure who it is. We weren't able to find any details regarding who might be working with them. What we do know is that this is a mock deal. The Yakuza want to see if whoever they're in contact with can reproduce the disruptor," stated Reagan,
"However I am not certain why I am needed. As you said, the Yakuza is comprised almost entirely of Quirkless members," pointed out Midnight.
"Key word mostly," stated the detective, "We have some reports that some members might have Quirks, but nothing confirmed and that is only for the Yakuza not the second party."
"So I am to act as insurance should either party have a Quirk," she surmised, seeing the logic behind getting a Pro Hero involved.
"Essentially," he confirmed before suddenly falling silent when he and the others heard the sound of vehicle engines approaching.
Taking a look at the meeting point for the arms deal, the Pro Hero and police force watched as three black SUV's pulled in from one side of the yard while a large van of some make approached from the opposite side. Slowly, the members of Yakuza emerged from their vehicles, all wearing black suits with white shirts, black ties, pants, and shoes. One of the members was carrying a large briefcase more than likely filled with the payoff.
Their leader was dressed far different from the rest, wearing only a black dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up, revealing matching dragon tattoos on his arms. The bottom four buttons of his shirt were done up, leaving the rest open to reveal his chest and more tattoos. Around his next was a golden medallion and despite how dark it was, the man also wore a pair of dark sunglasses. He had a Chinese-American complication with dark black hair. He also had a very slender build as he held his hands behind his back.
The driver of the van opened his own door and stepped out. He was an extremely buff person with black hair, grey eyes, and a caucasion skin tone. He was wearing a leather jacket with the sleeves torn off. Underneath was a muscle shirt that showed off all his muscles. He also wore some dirty jeans and construction boots. From the back of the van, about four men stepped out, two pairs each carrying a heavy duty case of some kind.
"All units," ordered Yin quietly into an earpiece she was wearing while the detective and the others watched carefully, "Be prepared to move in on our mark."
The police force held their ground as the two groups approached one another, their leaders stepping towards one another.
"Have you brought the goods?" demanded the leader of the Yakuza.
"Let me see the money first, Hun; then we'll talk," stated the other leader, narrowing his grey eyes at the man.
Hun frowned for a moment before raising his right hand and snapping his fingers. The Yakuza carrying the briefcase stepped forward and opened it up to reveal more than like a million dollars in U.S. cash. The large man smirked before glancing over his shoulder.
"Money's here, boys," he stated, "Why don't we show our friend here what this money can buy him?"
The four members approached with the cases in hand.
"Have you honored our deal, Mr. Stone?"
"Just as promised, I've brought the original disruptor just as promised to show what I'm promising is no scam," stated Stone as he reached out to one case and flipped the latches open and raised the lid to reveal the prototype weapon. Inside was indeed the stolen prototype, around the size of a hunting rifle, "And here's what your money will get you."
The manufacturer than opened the other case and revealed another disruptor. The only difference was the color scheme being it was now a dark matte black with hints chrome.
"They have the package," stated Detective Reagan into his own earpiece, "move in."
Like clockwork, the entire force made their move, starting by tossing a few flash bangs at the two groups, catching them by surprise.
"MPD! DROP YOUR WEAPONS!" Ordered Yin, having drawn a pistol as she, Reagan, and the officers made their move while Midnight held her position, no sense in giving the criminals to get trigger happy.
Despite being taken off guard by the police force, the Yakuza and other criminals were quick to react, grabbing cover and returning fire while their leaders: Hun and Stone remained where they were.
"This wasn't part of our deal, Stone," stated Hun calmly, despite being shot at.
"Yeah, yeah," replied the criminal, rolling his eyes.
"You two!" shouted Detective Reagan as he and Yin approached the two while the other officers occupied the respective men, "Get down on the ground with your hands behind your head!"
"Excuse me?" responded Stone, turning to the two detectives, "We are in a conversation."
"I said get down on the ground now!" repeated Reagan.
"Clearly manners are not your strongest attribute," noted the criminal, raising his hands into the air when the palms of his hands suddenly lit up with violet energy.
Taking a step forward, the criminal let out below while thrusting his hands forward. What happened next was a massive blastwave erupting from his hands. The wave slammed right into both detectives, knocking them both off their feet where they flew through the air before slamming into a shipping container. It was clear that thanks to the impact, both Reagan and Yin were knocked out the second they hit the container.
Turning to the police forces, Stone sent another wave, swing his right hand at them. The wave crashed into all the officers, knocking them out just like the detectives. Seeing all the law enforcement members, Midnight made her move, grabbing a part of her sleeve with her right hand and tore it off, releasing a pink mist.
"They don't make cops like they used to," noted the criminal as he rolled his shoulders.
"That is hardly a fair comparison," stated Midnight as she approached the two gangs, a sinister smirk on her face as she drew a long whip from her belt, "Not when you hold the advantage."
"Well, well, if it isn't the R-Rated Hero," stated the criminal as he folded his arms, however, frowned when he saw the pink mist.
"Where's your previous confidence?" taunted Midnight as she cracked her whip while both members of Yakuza and Stone kept their distance. While he was backpedaling to avoid inhaling the gas, he spotted some movement out of the corner of his eye.
"Right here," answered Stone as he suddenly dropped to the ground to reveal Hun standing behind him, holding the Disruptor prototype which was buzzing loudly thanks to a full charge.
Midnight's eyes went wide as a cyan ball of energy burst out of the muzzle of the rifle and sped towards her. Unable to dodge, Nemuri let out a cry of pain as the shot struck her right in the chest and a sharp pain swept across her entire body. While the Pro Hero stumbled back, Stone got right back to his feet and thrusted his hands out, sending another wave, blowing all the gas away from him and his men.
Midnight groaned as her entire body felt numb, her head pounding and eyesight blurry. Shaking her head slightly, the Pro Hero looked right at Yakuza and criminals as they surrounded her. It was then she noticed her quirk was working. She looked at her exposed skin with some minor confusion until she realized what she had been hit by: The Disruptor.
"Pro Heroes," noted Hun as he handed the Disruptor to one of his men, "So certain you can win because you have power. What is a Hero without their power?"
"Come find out if you dare," challenged Midnight as she cracked her whip. The Yakuza and Stone's men took aim with their weapons, but halted when Hun raised his hand.
"I accept your challenge," stated the leader of the Yakuza, stepping forward before holding his hands behind his back.
"If you insist," smirk Midnight despite her entire body still feeling numb.
Swinging her whip around, she sent the tip right at Hun's face, but the man calmly caught the end with his right hand. Wrapping the end around his wrist twice, the Yakuza leader yanked hard on the whip, pulling Midnight right towards him. Letting out a whoop, smashed his left hand into her stomach, forcing the Pro Hero to let go of the whip. With the weapon out of her grasp, Hun threw the weapon away.
Wincing at a new pain in her stomach, Nemuri removed her hand to see she was bleeding slightly. Her eyes widened, wondering how she was cut when she noticed Hun raise his hands. On both hands, all of his fingers had a ring with a sharp hook connected to it.
"Pro Heroes rely so much on their abilities, they ignore what one can do with the human body given the correct training," stated Hun, assuming a combat stance, "but it has been a while since you have faced a villain, has it not?"
Midnight adopted an angered expression. There were two ways to get on her bad side: interrupting her while she is speaking or insulting her, especially regarding her age.
"What did you say!?" demanded the Pro Hero angrily as she rushed blindly at Hun raising her fist to punch him.
The head of the Yakuza easily sidestepped her attack and countered by sweeping her legs out from underneath her. While she was in the air, Hun then punched her again in the stomach then kneeing her again before kicking her away, sending her rolling across the ground to the middle of the intersection.
"While it is true, your beauty is stunning, in combat, beauty cannot always aid you and neither can your power if all you do is depend on it without training your own body," lectured the crime lord.
"You plan keep lecturing her?" commented Stone as he folded his arms while Midnight started getting back up, supporting herself with her hands.
"No," stated Hun, "She can still be of use to my men."
Stone smirked sinisterly, "Plan to let myself or my men in on that action?"
It was then Midnight realized what they were referring to and she wanted no part in that at all. She could not believe she let herself get blindsided so badly! She was a Pro Hero, she should know better than to make such a stupid mistake. However, what made it worse was that the Yakuza head was right, most Pros rely almost entirely on their power and nothing else; and she made the same mistake. However, before she could berate herself anymore, a sudden flash of green light erupted from around a shipping container. The flash immediately caught the attention of all those present, but the sound of gunfire that followed put them on edge. It sounded like two of Hun's men were firing at something or someone, shouting incoherently. One of the Yakuza's men came flying out from around the corner and slammed into the far side of the intersection. The other came sprinting towards the group, his eyes wide with a fearful expression on his face.
The criminal didn't get far when two of the three black SUVs exploding into fire, the wreckage flying over the Pro Hero and the criminal's heads while the man was knocked out and to the ground by a door that came off one of the SUVs. Hun, Stone, the Yakuza, Stone's men, and Midnight watched as flames blazed before them. Nemuri could pick out a figured coming through the fire and she was surprised by what did come through.
Emerging from the fire was a green and black colored figure, standing at roughly seven, perhaps seven and a half feet in height, a red flame pattern surrounded the head while its feet looked similar to roots holding black rocks. The figure's eyes were oval-shaped and a little pointed with pupils copying the shirt, but a little smaller. The shoulders and head have red petals while the legs and elbows have green frills sticking out. In the center of the figure's chest was a disc of some kind with a green hourglass symbol at the center.
Currently, the figure's hands were burning with fire as whoever or whatever it was walked through the fire as if it wasn't even there. On the ground was the duplicate Disruptor Stone had made, which was promptly crushed under the figure's foot.
"Didn't your mom ever tell you not to hit a lady?" demanded the figure in a nasally voice while extinguishing the fires burning from his hands.
Earlier…
"-Gwen and Kevin?" Ben finished, but by the time he did, he realized Paradox had already transported him away, "Never mind."
Letting out a slightly annoyed sigh, the bearer of the Omnitrix decided the first thing he should do is figure out where he is. Upon immediate inspection, it looked like he was in some sort of shipping yard, kinda like where he, Gwen, and the late Magister Labrid first encountered Kevin after five years later. It should also be mentioned that it was in that location the Omnitrix rebooted and recalibrated itself.
Initially, Ben considered using his phone to try and get some service, but remembered this was an alternate universe, he likely wouldn't get any service here since he didn't have a plan or anything.
"Well," shrugged the teen as he looked up at the sky and saw it was already dark out, letting him know it was already night time, "Nowhere else to go…"
So with nothing but the Omnitrix and the clothes on his back, Ben began weaving through the stacked containers of the yard, not really sure where he was headed but staying in one place wouldn't help him.
While he was walking, Ben began thinking about what he was going to do now that he was here; one major problem for him was that he didn't exist in this universe, so if he got into trouble with the law, that might create a lot of problems. With no certificates of any kind he couldn't exactly do much and it wasn't like he could drop a bomb that he was a different dimension on just anyone and expect them to believe, despite what he's been told about this world from Paradox. He would admit that everyone having powers, or Quirks as the Professor called them, was kinda cool, the idea of heroes being turned into a business didn't really sit well with him.
Being a hero isn't about making money or becoming famous; being a hero was about helping people, about taking the responsibility of other people's well being into your hands, to protect them from threats when conventional means didn't cut it. He might be being a little unfair judging this place or it's ideology before getting to know it a bit better, but it still didn't sit quite right with him. That's when another thought entered his mind: how would he explain his powers or the Omnitrix?
For a few minutes, Ben went through a few cover stories before settling on one. While he didn't want to lie to anyone, the best lies are the ones with a bit of truth in them. So, to explain how he can transform, Ben made the story that he was genetically unstable, or susceptible to mutation/transformation, which would explain how his transformations occur at the genetic level. To explain the Omnitrix, he figured that because of the instability, the Omnitrix would act as a sort of stabilizer to maintain his alternate forms, with his human form as the default. However, there was the issue of a sixteen-year-old all alone in the middle of nowhere.
As much as he didn't want to talk about it, Ben figured the best way to explain why he is alone is that his parents were killed in an accident and he's been on his own for a while now.
It wasn't the best of stories, but it would do for now, and he didn't expect to maintain this story forever, planning that when his story does fail to reveal his true origin to someone he really trusts, or has earned the trust of. Besides, even with everyone and their mother having powers, hearing someone tell you they're from an alternate dimension with the most powerful weapon in their universe strapped to their wrist is a little hard to believe.
After walking for a few more minutes, Ben began wondering if he was walking in circles, or he was until he heard some kind of commotion not far away. At first it sounded like loud bangs, like firecrackers, but the teen's heroic instincts kicked in the second he heard gunfire.
When he heard the first shot, Ben began sprinting in the direction of the gunfire and as he was getting closer, could pick up indistinct shouting. Based on the noise, the bearer of the Omnitrix figured it was some kind of firefight and thought better than to rush blindly in. Getting closer, Ben slowed down until he was just around the corner to the fire fight. Carefully, he peered around to see what looked like a police raid of an arms deal.
He knew it was the police doing the raid since one side in the firefight was wearing uniforms that looked like what law enforcement would wear during things like this. For the moment, it looked like things were in favor of the police, that was until Ben spotted what he assumed was one of the bad guys suddenly blast two detectives, if Ben had to assume, away with what looked like a directed shockwave before doing the same with the other officers. The teen was about to make a move when he stopped when he saw a new figure enter the area.
Almost immediately, Ben felt his face turn red, cheeks heat up, and eyes widen as the figure turned out to be a woman wearing some very provocative attire. Part of it was torn open, making him think she had just taken care of some other bad guys, but then noticed the pink mist coming from her.
"This is one of the Pro Heroes?" The teen asked himself.
However, his thoughts were interrupted when he heard someone shouting.
"Hey! What are you doing here?!" shouted a man, catching the attention of one other. Ben realized he had been caught.
"Catch him!" shouted the other as they both charged at Ben.
"Woah! Woah, wait a second!" called Ben as he waved his hands in front of him as he backed up several feet while the two men stopped in front of him with assault rifles aimed at him.
"What are you doing here?" demanded one of the men in Japanese, not taking his eyes off Ben.
"What?" asked Ben, not understanding what was being said.
"Does it matter?" replied the other man, leveling his rifle at the teen, "Hun said no one can know about this."
"You guys know it's pretty rude to have a conversation right in front someone like they aren't even there, right?" taunted Ben, falling back on his experience as a hero.
"Quiet!" snapped the man again but his ally wasn't so certain.
"Hun's orders aside, it's just a child, no need to kill him,"retorted the first man.
"Um, guys, wanna let me in on what you're saying?" interrupted Ben again, but only received a hard jab in the stomach from the second rifle, causing him to buckle over, holding his stomach.
"I said quiet!" snapped the gangster as he took aim with his rifle at Ben's head, "Hun said no witnesses and right now, this kid is a witness."
Despite the sharp jab, Ben couldn't help but smirk, as he tapped the Omnitrix, the device beeping as it activated the holographic ring. He quickly swiped through the selections before he found the transformation he was looking for. He tapped the faceplate again, the wheel vanishing and the faceplate slid back to reveal the plunger.
"What was that?" asked the first man, but before he could get an answer from the second, Ben pushed the plunger down, engulfing his body in an emerald flash.
Both men immediately shielded their eyes from the flash. When the light died down, they looked back to see the boy had been replaced by some sort of green humanoid creature.
"SWAMPFIRE!" called out the newly transformed Ben, standing tall and assuming a combat stance.
"W-What is this?!" demanded the first man, taking a step back, his eyes wide with shock. The second man didn't answer and instead started firing at Swampfire.
The Methanosian only smirked confidently, even as the bullets tore through his plant-like body. After a full thirty seconds. The man stopped firing, his expression turned to pure shock as the bullet holes began regenerating almost instantly.
"Good try, pal," taunted Swampfire before making his move. Using his surprise, the alien hero suddenly charged forward and slugged the man right in the face, the impact sending him flying back out into the main area where he crashed into the containers on the far side.
"What are you?!" exclaimed the first man as he started shooting as well while backing up before giving up and realized it was pointless and began sprinting away. Swampfire gave chase after the criminal. Despite only having a short look at the area before being spotted, Ben remembered the three SUVs and van in the area, deciding to take care of that first, or at least reduce the number of options of escape.
The alien's hands suddenly ignited into fire and he blasted a large stream of fire at two SUV's, blowing them to pieces, casting fire everywhere and sending the wreckage flying. Ben noted the man that tried running was knocked up by a door as the transformed teen stepped through the fire with ease.
Emerging from the fire, Ben could see the heroine had been cornered by the bad guys. The Methanosian also noted the surprised look on her face by his sudden appearance. It didn't take much guess work to figure out that the slender man wearing shades and had multiple tattoos on his arms was the leader of the finely dressed bad guys while the muscular one was the leader of the others. Also from the appearance of the woman, she had taken a few hits already, but couldn't tell which one was the culprit. Swampfire frowned as he crushed what looked like one of the weapons being sold underneath his foot before stopping in front of the group.
"Didn't your mom tell you not to hit a lady?" demanded the alien as he extinguished the flames on his hands.
"You speak english?" noted the muscular man.
"At least someone else does," stated Swampfire, "figured I'd be the only one, but guess not."
"Do you even know where you are?" asked the man, rhetorically.
"Not really, but what I do know is that what you're doing isn't very legal," replied the alien hero.
"Legal or not, interruptions are bad for business!" shouted the man as he sent a wave at Swampfire. The transformed teen was quick to react, easily jumping right over the wave to hit the containers behind. Landing back on the ground, the alien charged.
"So is fighting!" returned Swampfire as he landed a brutal punch to the man's head, knocking him down. The man's thugs then started shooting at Ben, the bullets tearing through his body but did nothing to actually hurt him. Closing the distance, the transformed teen landed an uppercut to one criminal completely knocking him out.
The remaining three, seeing they weren't going to beat him tried running. They all scrambled into the van and fired it up. The vehicle roared to life and started to make a mad rush for an exit.
"Nice try fellas," complemented Swampfire with a smirk as he grabbed a lamp post and ripped it out of the ground. Just as the van was about to pass, the plant alien swung the post like a baseball bat, striking the side of the van, knocking it completely over, "But I already saw that exact same stunt. Didn't work out for the ones who tried it either."
Suddenly, more bullets began hitting Swampfire, causing him to drop the lamp post.
"Hey!" chuckled the alien as he turned to the other group of criminals, all firing at him, "You guys know bullets don't work on me? If anything, it kinda tickles."
While Swampfire was getting shot, Midnight was watching in minor surprise at how well whoever this was, was able to deal with the criminals. Granted, it was clear he didn't have much to worry about, able to repair any damage to his body in mere seconds, but there was something very strange about this. However, the Pro Heroes surprise turned to shock with what happened next.
Just as the creature was about to charge, a loud crack of energy broke through the night and the next thing she saw was the right arm of her savior lying on the ground.
"Hey!" shouted Swampfire as he spun around to see the other leader holding some sort of weird rifle, like the one he crushed a minute ago.
While shock and some anger prevailed in Nemuri's mind for a few seconds, surprise then took place when a vine suddenly sprouted from the stump of the severed arm and grew towards the stranger's own stump. The vine connected to the stump and Midnight watched in awe as the limb reattached itself to the main body. Once it was reattached, the alien grabbed a piece of debris from one of the destroyed cars and hurled it at the man who shot his arm off. The chunk hit him right in the chest, knocking the weapon out of his hand and the man himself onto his back.
"I was planning on taking it easy with you guys tonight," commented Swampfire flexing his fingers to get feeling back in them after being severed while turning back to the others, "But now, I changed my mind."
With that, the plant alien charged towards the remaining criminals, taking them out one by one with either punches, kicks, or elbows. During this time, Stone was coming around and saw his truck was destroyed and Hun's men being taken out left and right.
"You ruined everything!" roared Stone in anger.
"You say that like its a bad thing," taunted Swampfire after he slugged another one of Hun's men, knocking him completely out.
"All you Pros are alike!" accused the man, "Thinking your powers make you special!"
"That's pretty hypocritical coming from you, or did I imagine you taking out the cops with shockwaves?" pointed out the alien.
"Oh, I'm gonna rip you to pieces!"
Swampfire just smirked and made a 'come at me, bro' gesture, "Then come gets some."
With an angered shout, Stone charged right towards Ben, the transformed teen doing the same. Once they were in close, Stone threw a powerful blow right towards the alien's stomach and punched right through. It was here that Stone found himself stuck and tried to pull his hand out, but before he could, Swampfire clapped his hands onto stone's ears, making them ring before kicking the criminal off him.
Stone rolled across the ground away from the alien, however, something caught the heroes attention. To his left, Hun and whatever of his men that were still conscious were getting into the final SUV.
"The deal is off, Stone," shouted Hun to the downed man before starting up the SUV.
"You're not getting off easy, buddy," stated Swampfire as he opened up his right hand. In the palm were several seeds. Smirking he tossed them right underneath the van and watched with no small amount of amusement as vans began growing at an incredible pace from underneath the SUV. A series of surprised and confused shouts came from the vehicle as it was raised into the air, the occupants trapped inside.
"And you're leaving this place alive!" shouted Stone as he was back on his feet and launched a powerful shockwave at the alien.
The hero spun around in time to take the hit right to his chest and be flung back. Swampfire crashed right into a container letting out a shout on impact. There was actually enough force to knock the container back several feet while the one on top loose. When the plant based hero hit the ground, the container above fell right on top of him. Stone smirked darkly as he approached the container that fell on top of the hero.
"Like I said, you're not leaving her alive," gloated Stone, however, during which, he failed to notice several fines began rising out of the ground. The vines then began to form together, creating a familiar figure, "Wait, wha-?!"
"Peekaboo!" surprised Swampfire as he landed both fists to Stone's face at the same time. While the criminal stumbled back, the alien charged forward and jumped forward, landing a flying kick to his chest, knocking Stone completely off his feet.
The weapons maker growled as he held his chest while getting up, glaring hatefully at Ben.
"You have know idea who you're dealing with!" he stated.
"Neither do you," retorted Ben as he ignited both his hands and fired a stream of fire right at Stone. The fire collided with the criminal, blasting him back where he crashed into a container on the far side.
The teen hero let out a relieved sigh, as all the bad guys were either knocked out or contained, however, there was one who wasn't as relieved as he was about the current state of things. Midnight, who had gotten back to her feet was looking at the Methanosian with a bit of intrigue as well as interest if her studying stare was anything to go by.
"That takes care of them," stated Swampfire, before he turned to Midnight and was pretty thankful that Methanosian's couldn't blush, "A-Are you okay?"
Nemuri smirked as she could tell by his body language and the way he spoke that whoever this was, was a little embarrassed, despite not knowing much about the English language. She could tell he was asking if she was harmed.
"Yes… No damage…," she replied in broken English.
"Good," nodded Swampfire, however paused when he saw that the police were starting to come around, "Not good."
He couldn't stay lest he be questioned by the police and be detained for not existing.
"I gotta go," stated the alien before turning and running off, not even bothering to wait for Midnight to reply.
"Where are you going?" called Midnight before she also gave chase, though took off her high heels first because nobody can run in heels. It was clear that whoever this was, was much faster than her thanks to his longer stride, but the Pro Hero was certain she'd be able to find him because of one simple element.
Smell.
Ben didn't know how long he had been running but he figured he had put enough distance between him and the police. As much as he wanted to stay and make sure they were okay, he couldn't let himself be held up or interrogated. He knew it wasn't right, but then again, getting arrested wouldn't help him much either.
Slowing down to stop, the teen noticed he put a lot of distance between himself and the shipping yard. Where he was presently, Ben had to guess it was a different part of the shipping yard, likely the far side, or perhaps even the edge since he spotted a bus stop a couple yards ahead of him. Letting out a relieved sigh, Swampfire headed towards the bus stop. Once he was by the stop, the transformed was about to slap the Omnitrix dial to revert back but stopped when he heard a familiar voice behind him.
"You are certainly quick," noted Midnight as she approached Swampfire from behind.
"You again?" said the alien plant hero, looking around, "How did you find me?"
Instead of answering, Midnight just tapped her nose with her finger, smirking as she did so. Mentally, Swampfire facepalmed at how she found him, not because she did, but because he chose the one alien who's natural aroma smelled like something had died.
The Methanosian let out a sigh as Midnight approached him, "Look lady, I don't want to get into trouble with the police, I just wanted to do the right thing."
The Pro Hero only folded her arms as she gave him a particular look that he could deduce for a few seconds before figuring it out, "Right, you can't understand me."
Midnight opened her mouth to say something but before she could, she and Swampfire both heard a beeping. The alien glanced down at his chest to see the Omnitrix dial flashing before he was engulfed in a green flash. The sudden flash caused Midnight to shield her eyes for a moment, and when she uncovered them they widened when the strange plant man was gone, replaced by a young man, wearing dark blue jeans, a black t-shirt, and a green jacket with the number ten emblazoned in white inside a black circle on the left pectoral, with a white, vertical stripe crossing under it. It also had two horizontal white stripes on the right sleeve.
"Nice timing," muttered Ben to the Omnitrix on his wrist.
"Well, isn't this a surprise," commented Midnight, her smile growing wider as she stepped towards Ben.
"I'm sorry if I broke any laws, just wanted to do the right thing," began Ben before Midnight suddenly grabbed his left hand and began to pull him away, "Wait, what are you doing?"
"Find… translator…," said Midnight, smiling flirtatiously.
"Translate…," repeated Ben before an idea entered his mind, "Wait one second!"
Ben pulled his arm free for a second, causing Midnight to frown but raise an eyebrow in confusion when Ben brought the Omnitrix up in front of his chest.
"Omnitrix, command function override: code-10," instructed the young teen.
The Omnitrix beeped twice, "Override Accepted," replied the device, momentarily surprising Midnight as the hourglass symbol began glowing emerald.
"Activate universal translator; command code 0-0-0-universal translate-0," Ben gave the command to the device.
"Command code accepted," announced the device, "Universal translator activated. Speech and writing will be translated in real time."
With that, the Omnitrix let out a final beep before the glow faded.
"Okay, I think that might help," said Ben, catching the Pro Hero by surprise when he suddenly began speaking Japanese with no hint of an accent at all.
"What did you just do?" asked Midnight, curiously, her smile returning.
"How about we start with introductions first?" suggested Ben, chuckling slightly at her surprise from his transformation and suddenly speaking another language immediately. He wasn't used to this kind of reaction anymore. In his world, everyone knew who he was and what he could do. Obviously, that was not the case here.
"My name is Ben. Ben Tennyson," he smiled to the woman, before looking around briefly, "I don't suppose you could tell me where I am exactly?"