A/N:
" " : Speech,
' ' : Thought,
"Italicized text" : Telepathy/Space Speech
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Omniscient POV
Location: Midnight City, United States of America, North America, Earth.
A week had passed since Darkwing had joined the other Guardians of the Globe to investigate the electromagnetic anomaly, and like always, he had returned to his city to continue protecting its people from criminals. Moving through the air on his hoverboard with the permanent midnight sky as his backdrop, he chased down some robbers who had robbed a corner store. He threw a pair of bolas, tripping two of the five robbers, and sped up to catch the remaining three.
Knowing that they couldn't outrun Darkwing, they looked around for anything they could use to slow him down. One of them took out a flashbang that he had procured in preparation for the robbery and Darkwing's chase, pulled off its pin and tossed it backwards without looking, his legs never stopping or slowing. Shortly after, an explosion of light and sound went off, but it was ineffective in slowing down Darkwing, as his cowl shut out the flashbang's attack. And so, just a few seconds after, he had taken down the remaining robbers.
Strangely, as he stopped them, he felt a slight prick on the back of his neck. He turned and looked around, wondering what could have caused the sensation. "Darkwing! Is something wrong?" His sidekick, Nightboy, asked. "It's nothing, Nightboy. Now, let's get these guys to the station." He said, as he grabbed the incapacitated men.
…
Location: Kolomenskoye(Коло́менское), Moscow, Russia, Asia, Earth.
Josef Abramovich, or as he's known to the rest of the world, Red Rush, was currently on a date with his wife, Olga. For a speedster like him, every second that passed in real time felt like hours. And while he uses this to great effect in taking down criminals, superpowered or otherwise, and in saving people from disasters and other situations where they would have died, it didn't help him much when it came to being with his wife, or most social interactions as a whole.
Yet, as he was doing his best to work through his dissonance with others, he suddenly heard someone speak to him. But the strangeness he felt was that the speed of the person's voice sounded… normal, even in his perception. "This is for a better future, Josef. You'll understand when the time comes." He heard the voice in his ear, then felt a tiny prick on the back of his neck. He looked around, trying to find the person who spoke to him, but didn't find anything or anyone.
…
Up in the skies overlooking Washington, the Immortal flew over the state, reminiscing about his past. He had experienced over three thousand years of human history, and he still fought to protect them. The burden of immortality bore down on him with its weight, and even though he felt it was wrong, he has wanted to just move away from being a notable member of current history for quite a while now. As he continued to cruise in the air, he suddenly felt a prick on his neck, and he looked around, wondering what could have caused it, but found nothing. He shook his head, deciding to ignore the sensation, attributing it to his less than pleasant memories of the ways he's been attacked in the past.
…
Over in Chicago, War Woman, now in her civilian identity, was making dinner with her co-worker and lover Connie, in their inner-city apartment, where she chose to live. As they prepared the ingredients for their meal, Holly felt a prick at the back of her neck, and smacked at it, thinking it to be the nuisance of a fly or mosquito, until she remembered that her skin was nigh impenetrable. She looked around the kitchen, but found no other presence. After some coaxing from Connie, she calmed down and put the possibility of a threat at the back of her mind, as she continued to enjoy the night with her lover.
…
Still in Chicago, Alana was currently awake, staring into the night sky, while her husband, Theo, was asleep. She thought back to the children she saved during the Mauler Twins' attack, and she smiled. The people she saved, the people she helped live to see another day, they were why she was a superhero. They were the reason that she became the Green Ghost. As she looked at the green amulet in her hand, she felt a tiny prick on the back of her neck, then closed the windows, thinking it to be a simple mosquito bite.
…
Over in a poorly maintained apartment building, Martian Man held a small homeless girl in his arms, who nuzzled up to him as she slept. The girl, Nikki, was someone that Martian Man had come to care for deeply, treating her as a daughter, even as he explored his own latent humanity. He might have been living in exile from his homeworld, but because of her, he felt like he had a home here on Earth.
He suddenly felt a tiny pinch on his core, which was a strange occurrence to him. To his knowledge, there wasn't truly anyone who knew that his core was his main physical weak point, save for Nikki, so he attributed the sensation to the novel feelings of affection that he was growing.
…
Deep in the Atlantic Ocean, Aquarus, the king of Atlantis, sat on his throne, bored out of his mind. Ever since he had joined the Guardians of the Globe, ruling over Atlantis had felt more like a tedious chore than a responsibility. He found more excitement out there, fighting supervillains and monsters, than here in his home, where there was no challenge whatsoever. He was the one responsible for the defeat of the Depth-Dweller, after all.
As he sighed, he felt a slight prick at the side of his neck. He looked around, wanting to see what had pricked him. He saw no blood and the feeling quickly disappeared, so he attributed this to him having 'withdrawals from not having enough fun', then returned to staring into space.
…
In the underground GDA Prison that held the world's most dangerous criminals and supervillains, the Mauler Twins were stuck in their cell, where they have been since being defeated by the Guardians of the Globe. "You really think he's gonna keep his end of the deal?" One of the asked the other. "He's got to. Making a deal with us is enough dirt for him to be taken down." The other responded. Suddenly, the both of them felt groggy, then abruptly fell asleep, seemingly with no explanation. Other prisoners and even some guards saw this, then shrugged, uncaring of what had just happened.
…
Location: Solar System, Omni-Core
Beyond Earth's orbit was Benjamin's base, which he had named the Omni-Core. It was under a cloaking field that only Benjamin and his clones could see through, and was superficially protected by an energy shield. Under the cover of invisibility, Benjamin flew into the spacecraft with a small bag in his hand. Upon entering the ship, he immediately formed 10 clones, while one of the clones that was on the ship came by to greet him.
"So, how'd it go?" The clone asked him. "I got a DNA sample from each of the Guardians, the full schematics for the Mauler Twins' cloning machine, and three new transformations. I'd say it didn't go bad." Benjamin responded as the clones he just created flew away. "Wait. Three? I count Martian and Atlantean. So who's the third?" The clone asked him. "Turns out, War Woman's origins are a lot closer to the comics, where she's some otherworldly, superpowered being that just so happens to look human." He responded.
"Honestly, turning to Clockwork, Pesky Dust, and Ripjaws helped out way more than I thought at first." He said, handing over the bag containing the DNA samples from the Guardians of the Globe. "It definitely helped that they weren't in combat situations, so the risk of me being found out was pretty low." He said, floating towards the area he had set apart for rest and relaxation.
"That's all well and good, but don't you think that we're kinda heading down the road Rudy went with all this?" The clone asked as it checked each of the vials, seeing the differences between each of the Guardians. "You know, what with the secret base in space, cloning and all that jazz." He finished, then looked at his original. "Sometimes, it feels that way. But then, I remember that I'm not trying to become some tyrant overlord, and instead, I'm trying to protect those that I care about. So, even if some of the stuff we do isn't particularly above board, as long as we don't harm anyone, it'll be fine." Benjamin said, but there was a subtle shake in his voice. The clone noticed this, but shrugged, then took the DNA samples over to the R&D area.
…
Some more days pass, and Benjamin was now sitting on a rooftop, under the cover of invisibility, watching as a robbery went down. He watched as three men ran out of the jewelry shop that had just gotten hit, two of them dressed in suits and holding guns and bags, and the third being a superhuman who had transformed his outermost body to rock. The police, who had arrived much faster than the robbers had expected, pursued the men while shooting at them.
"You're not supposed to run with us , you idiot! You're supposed to stay behind so we can get away!" The suited man holding the gun said to the superhuman. "You brought me along to protect you from the cops. I can't do that if I hang back and let them shoot at me." The superhuman responded calmly, as the suited man shot back at the police from the corner they had turned. "Damn it. Just shut up and get us over the fence!" The man shouted, and the superhuman grabbed the two men and jumped over the fence, putting an obstacle between them and the police.
After scaling the fence, the three men continued running, trying to put some distance between them and the police, who had already begun re-routing to catch them. But before they could even move three feet, a male figure dressed in an orange shirt, blue pants and orange boots, with a makeshift mask made from a scarf and goggles over his face, flew in from the sky and tackled the superhuman with enough force to smash through the fence and incapacitate the other two robbers. This was of course Mark Grayson, who was using a makeshift suit to hide his identity while he tested his new Viltrumite abilities.
Mark's inexperience with flight showed very quickly, as he overshoots his tackle, flipping over the superhuman and landing belly first on the floor. "Totally meant to do that." Mark said with a groan, as he stood up. "Who the hell are you?" The superhuman asked, his rocky exterior still intact. "I'm… uh… I guess I'm still working on that. Any suggestions?" Mark said, trying to use humor to calm himself.
"Captain Guy with a hole punched through him?" The superhuman said, then rushed at Mark. "Eh. It doesn't really roll of the tongue." Mark responded, then dodged a punch aimed at his head. He quickly retaliated with two quick punches to his face and midsection, only to see the superhuman be mostly unaffected. "Anything else?" Mark asked, only to receive three quick, heavy blows to his head and midsection, which break the lenses of his goggles.
The rock superhuman goes for a haymaker, which gets dodged, as Mark flew a considerable distance backwards, then flew straight at him, hitting him with a punch that was hard enough to break the rock exterior, exposing the dark-skinned man underneath and knocking him out at the same time. "Sorry about that. But I guess I'm the guy who was here to stop you." Mark said, then looked up as he heard a familiar deep voice.
"You look ridiculous." Nolan Grayson, Omni-Man, said as he looked at his son. "Let's get outta here." He said, as the sound of police sirens approached. As the pair flew away, Benjamin followed them, combining his invisibility with intangibility, so that he wouldn't cause any changes in the air. As he continued following them, a tingling sensation went through his entire body, a sensation he was starting to grow familiar with, as it only occurred when he began scanning new DNA.
Mark and Nolan quickly flew to the roof of a building that was five blocks away from the three unconscious robbers, where Nolan smoothly landed, while Mark stumbled, almost falling. Ben continued levitating beside Nolan, remaining hidden from the senses of the two Graysons. "Honestly, I think you might have skipped a few steps, Mark." Nolan said to his son, who moved his goggles and scarf to expose his face, showing a frown.
"It seemed to work out just fine." Mark replied, folding his arms. "It may not look like much, but you did far more damage down there than was necessary. I don't think you're ready." Nolan said, and Mark replied, shocking Nolan and causing Benjamin to facepalm, even while invisible. "Hit me." Mark said defiantly.
"Hit me now. I can take it." He said, challenging his father's opinion. "Mark, I'm not gonna hit you." Nolan said calmly. "You'd never hit me before, okay? It scared me, but it wasn't too much. I could take the pain. I'm strong." Mark replied with the energy of someone who had something to prove, which he felt that he did. "I know you are." Omni-Man said, familiar with Viltrumite strength.
"No! No, you don't! I know you think I can't do this! So hit me, and let me prove you wrong! Please, Dad! Please just hit me." Mark shouted, showing his frustration at what he thought was his father underestimating him. "Oh, son…" Nolan said, seeing the way his son felt, and feeling sorry that he ever made his son feel… inadequate. "I'm strong enough, and I can do this! It's all I ever wanted as long as I remember. I wanna do what you do. I… I wanna be just like you." Mark said, his tone now tired from him pouring out his emotions to his father.
Nolan walked over to his son and embraced him in a hug. "You will, son. You will." He said, then released the hug. "Come. Let me make this up to you." He said, then began flying away, telling Mark to follow him. As for Benjamin, he stayed in the roof, watching the two Viltrumites fly away. "Guys, I've got it. Beam me up." He said, then with a quick flash of light, he was teleported away from the roof.
…
The Omni-Core had was busy with clones moving around, performing various tasks. Some of them were transformed into Methanosian forms, using their abilities to grow multiple food crops in large quantities. Others were transformed into Orishans and Atlanteans, providing large amounts of clean, fresh water, that was put into large containers that were set to be delivered to places that don't have clean water. Some others were in the R&D area, already working on cures for many of the maladies that were on Earth.
At the center of the Omni-Core, Benjamin appeared with a flash of light. "So, you gonna do it now?" The clone that was operating the teleporter asked him. "Not just yet." Benjamin said, then turned away to speak to all of his clones that were present on the spacecraft. "Everyone. If you're almost done with your tasks, wrap 'em up quick. If you aren't, then put it on hold." He said, using his Sonorosian abilities to amplify the sound of his voice, making it reach everywhere on the spacecraft.
Ten minutes later, all of Benjamin's clones on the Omni-Core, of which there were a hundred and twenty, were now gathered at the central hub. "You know, we get that Viltrumites are some of the strongest aliens in this universe, but I don't see why that should be all that important to drag us all here like this." One of the clones that was working on the cures said, and many of the clones nodded in agreement, while others simply stayed silent.
"If I remained the same after transformations, then that would have been the case, but since I retain stuff from them, it's brought up this situation." Benjamin responded. "The main thing that I'm worried about is what'd happen to me regarding the whole 'dominant genes' thing that's going on with Viltrumite DNA." He said, and all the clones nodded, realizing that this was a valid concern.
"First things first, use the DNA scanner." He said, and one of the clones stepped forward with a device that looked like a larger, bulkier version of a barcode scanner with a screen on its top. The clone scanned Benjamin, and the scanner put up a hologram showing its results. "100% human. But how?" The clone said, confused at the result. "Think of it like Ultimate Ben. No matter how much he changed, he was still human, just possessing the abilities and traits of those aliens. Now, to see if the same holds for me." Benjamin said, then with a green flash of light, transformed into a Viltrumite.
Benjamin was now dressed in the standard uniform of a Viltrumite soldier, only that his was white and green, as opposed to the Viltrumites' white and grey. After letting the form settle, he reverted to his human form. As he did, he felt every part of his body begin to furiously itch and stretch, causing him to fall to the ground in pain. The clones looked at him in morbid fascination, as he gained a second right eye, his skin turned to multiple different hues, the sides of his torso bulged out, as if trying to sprout new arms, and the end of his spinal column seemed to try and protrude out a tail.
They were able to identify multiple alien body parts that were struggling to manifest themselves on his body, but were unable to. "It's like what happened with Kevin." One of the clones said, and although they made no sounds as they observed Benjamin, all the other clones agreed. After another half hour of writhing under agonizing pain, Benjamin finally settled, letting out labored breaths. He had grown taller, and his body had gained a light amount of bulk, but the most notable thing was that he was still human – the clone with the scanner confirmed this.
He stood up, inspecting his body to see what changes had occurred. Beyond his height and muscle mass increasing, he also noticed that his body felt much more dense. The range of his electroreception had expanded, and his other senses had drastically sharpened, but that wasn't what drew his attention.
*Snikt* With a slight flex of his upper arm, a large, sharp claw came out of his wrist at the back of his hand — the claw of an Appoplexian. Retracting the claw, he moved his hand around, and then suddenly unraveled his hand as if it was made of cloth, a trait he got from his Thep Khufan transformation.
After reconstituting his hand, his nails changed, shifting from keratin into an aquamarine crystalline substance, which was the same material that his Petrosapien transformation was made of. "Well, boys. We're in business." He said, then absorbed every one of his clones.
After absorbing all the clones, he immediately replaced them with little difficulty, as his body had been enhanced enough to bear the cost, then sent the new clones to resume the tasks that their predecessors hadn't finished.
While his clones worked on the different projects, Benjamin busied himself, creating contingencies for multiple scenarios, and learning to fully control his body and abilities. Over the course of the past twelve days, he had transformed into every alien he could remember, save for the Celestialsapien, meaning that he had quite a lot of powers to familiarize himself with. And as far as he was concerned, he had enough of it.
Chapter End.
Word Count: 3,844
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