New York City is a beautiful place, especially when you view it from the air at night. However for the Avengers there was no time for sight seeing, especially with a supervillain on the loose.
Earlier in the evening, the Team got a tip that the villain Whirlwind had resurfaced and was now on the loose somewhere in the city. To maximize their search efforts, the Avengers split up into smaller groups to increase their chances of catching the spinning crook. One team consisted of Thor and Ben, who's current form was a bug-like alien with four insect-like flat legs and two arms, who's hands were human-style, with a black coloration, similar to fingerless gloves, and had three clawed fingers. It had four pedunculated eyes that are pretty small and yellowish-orange in color. These eyes are linked directly to the sides of its huge black head. Its wings are very fragile with lines on them. Its limbs are a brown-greenish color and its wings are light green. It had the Ultimatrix symbol on the top of its forehead. This was Stinkfly, Bens original go to flyer.
Currently the God of Thunder and Wielder of the Ultimatrix where flying over the Manhattan skyline, searching for any sign that would lead them to their target. As they flew, Thor seemed slightly annoyed.
"I do not see why we must devote the entire might of our forces to track down this villain. When, from her tails of the encounter, Wasp can defeat this Whirlwind quite easily." Thor stated aloud.
Stinkfly turned and looked at his teammate with all four of his eyes. "Well think of it like when we took down Mandrill." The bug-like alien explained. "Remember how quickly he surrendered when we all showed up to kick his butt?"
Thor grinned as he recalled the memory. "Indeed. He surrendered quite easily. A sad disappointment for a villain."
Stinkfly shrugged, "Hey, not every bad guy has to be some big world conqueror. Maybe the next guy we fight."
"I'll hold you to your word, Son of Ten." Thor responded.
The Alien Teen smirked as he turned his eyes back to the New York skyline. "Looks like well need to split up here." He informed as he looked at where they were heading. "You head inland, I'll check the docks. And call before you take him down. I wanna be there when the guy tries to actually compete with you for who-makes-the-bigger-tornado contest."
Thor nodded as he broke off from their formation, though he did not say this aloud, but the Thunderer was grateful to be away from the aliens fowl stench. Stinkfly then took off towards the docks, flying low over the rooftops. As he flew, Stinkfly used his two lower eye stalks to monitor the ground while his upper eyes watched where he was going, a handy trick to have when you have multiple eyes.
Suddenly the blaring of sirens sounded off, not to far from where Stinkfly was heading. Whether or not it was the authorities trying to capture Whirlwind, the Alien Avengers hero instincts took over as he flew towards the sound of the sirens.
When he flew over the next roof, Stinkfly was surprised to see that the source of the sirens were not in fact coming from police cars, but rather military style vehicles that looked like the cross between a Hummer and a tank, the letters M.R.D was printed on its sides. Three of them were currently tearing down the street in pursuit of something. Whatever they where chasing, no doubt it had to be dangerous if these things are needed to catch it. Perhaps this was Whirlwind after all?
Deciding to roll the dice on this one, Stinkfly took off in pursuit of the military vehicles. Eventually the three vehicles, came to a halt at the end of an ally way. The doors opened and several men, all wearing dark green and grey body armor and armed with advanced rifles, piled out of the vehicles.
They all rushed into the ally, their weapons raised. Stinkfly flew over the squad and landed on the rooftop just above the ally. The alien hero then looked over the ledge and his eyes widen in shock. It wasn't a supervillain these soldiers were chasing at all. Instead, standing with its back to the wall, crying her eyes out, was a little girl.
From the looks of it, she looked no older than 10 years old. She looked to be of Asian descent, possibly the Philippines. She wore a baggy grey T-shirt that was a few sizes to big for her and a pair of black leggings. She had short black hair her tear-stained cheeks and a terrified face as the soldiers closed in on her.
Stinkfly couldn't believe what he was seeing, these military grade tough guys, were cornering a little girl. Granted he knew a thing or two about how looks can be deceiving. But still, it was clear this girl was terrified and everyone knows that it's a bad idea to corner a potentially dangerous target.
At that moment one of the soldiers stepped forward, apparently the one in charge. He was a tall, strongly built man, who wore the same uniform as the other soldiers. He had a baldhead and a trim moustache, but the most defining feature was the three slash marks across the bridge of his nose down the left side of his face.
"This is Colonel Moss of the Mutant Response Division!" the man called out in an authoritive tone, with the slight undertone of bitterness in his voice. "You have no where to run, Mutant scum! So come along quietly and there wont be anymore trouble!"
The girl sniffed as her lip trembled. "GO AWAY! I want my Mommy!" She screamed back, breaking down into another fit of sobbing as she dropped to the ground and curled up into a ball.
"I repeat, surrender and come with us or I will be forced to take lethal action!" Colonel Moss threatened. He then raised his right arm and made a hand signal to his men to move in.
Seeing the event play out, Stinkfly's eyes narrowed, it was clear to him now that this girl was not a threat as any being with the ability to fight back would have done so at this point. Seeing a group of men bully a harmless little girl made the Alien Heroes blood boil. Stinkfly immediately sprung into action and took off from the roof and descended into the ally landing right between the MRD soldiers and the girl.
"Hold it right there." The alien called out. The soldiers stopped dead in their tracks and looked at the bug-like alien in shock. "Now I know that curfew is kind of a big deal, but come on guys this seems like kind of overkill." He quipped.
While the soldiers were surprised at the aliens sudden appearance, they quickly got over it and aimed their weapons at him. "Mutant freak. Take him down!" one of the soldiers ordered.
Stinkfly rolled his eyes. "How many time do I have to say it. I'm not a, WAOH!"
Stinkfly was barely able to take off in time to avoid shot that one of the soldiers fired at him. The other soldiers then opened fire with their own rifles, yellow bolts illuminated the ally way as the alien hero flew to avoid every shot that was fired at him. Eventually though, Stinkfly was able to find and opening and fired a stream of green slime from pollen ducts in his eyestalks. The goo flew at pinpoint accuracy, hitting and enveloping the nozzles of several of the guns the MRD soldiers fired at him. The soldier's barrage ceased as they all looked to their clogged weapons in shock.
The alien hero then hovered just above the squad. "Ok everyone just calm down. I don't want to fight you."
Colonel Moss sneered at the insect-like creature before him. "You mutants are all the same." He spat at Stinkfly. "Thinking you can do whatever you want cause you have powers. Putting innocent people in danger and thinking you're above everyone else. Well let me tell you something, freak. You're all a menace to society, the world would be better off without your kind in it and pretty soon, they'll be nowhere for you to hide."
As Stinkfly heard the Colonel speak, he couldn't help but be reminded of the Forever Knights back in his universe. An organization with a huge medieval theme, that dedicated themselves to ridding earth of all alien life, despite the fact that the aliens that did live on earth where peaceful and didn't do anything to hurt people. It wasn't until Ben's interference that the Forever Knights where able to come to a compromise and back off.
These MRD guy are just as Xenophobic as the Knights were, it made him sick to his stomach that people like them would punish someone, just because they weren't the same race as them. People should be punished cause they do something wrong, not because they look or act different.
Stinkfly narrowed his eyes. "Look pal. Whatever issues you have with her, or me you need to see a therapist about, badly. This kids done nothing wrong. So either back down, before I make you back down."
Colonel Moss's expression remain neutral, the aliens threat completely rolling off is shoulders. He then placed his hand to his ear and activated the communicator in it. "This is Colonel Moss, you are cleared to engage."
Suddenly the sound of a powerful engine, roared above Stinkfly's head. The alien hero looked up at the source, only to be immediately blinded by a powerful searchlight from a combat helicopter that hovered above the ally. Stinkfly was so thrown off by the spotlight, that he was unable to see the net that was fired from the helicopters gunner. The net stretched out and ensnared the alien hero, pinning his wings, causing him to fall the ground with a loud crash.
Before the bug-like alien could even attempt to struggle against the netting, a surge of electricity flowed across the net, shocking Stinkfly, weakening him enough to leave him barely conscious. Once the electrical surge stopped, the alien hero lay on the ground, panting heavily.
Stinkfly mentally cursed himself for allowing the MRD to get the drop on him so easily. With the net covering him he couldn't fly, if he attempted his fragile wing would be shredded to pieces and with the added shock, he was too weak to use his claws or tail to cut the netting. He was completely at their mercy.
With a satisfied grin on his face, Colonel Moss walked over to the fallen hero and triumphantly stood over him. "Not so tough now, are you, freak." He then turned to his men. "Get these two back to the facility, I want them…."
He was interrupted when the piercing sound of a jet, sliced through the air. Everyone looked up to try and see the source as the powerful sound echoed all around them.
Suddenly from above the ally a jet came into view. It was primarily black in color and had a long streamline body with two large, jet engines at the rear. The jet stopped in mid air, hovering via thrusters located underneath it.
At first the teen hero though that it was MRD reinforcements, but the shocked looked on the soldiers faces made him think otherwise. The ramp of the jet opened up and the soldiers all aimed their weapons at the aircraft.
Suddenly a primal yelled erupted over the sound of the jets engines and a being swiftly leaped off the ramp and descended down to the street at alarming speeds. The being landed in the thick of the MRD soldiers, tackling several of them to the ground. The sound of several blades being unsheathed sounded out which was then immediately followed by the sound of metal being torn and pained yells as soldiers started getting tossed aside like bowling pins.
When the soldiers standing closest to Ben were forcefully dispersed, Stinkfly saw who the mysterious attackerwhich was. He was a buff man, roughly five foot nine, wearing a yellow, sleeveless suit with black on the shoulders, which ran down the sides of his shirt and pants, along with black gloves and boots. He wore a belt around his waist with an X shaped symbol on the buckle. On his head, he wore a cowl that covered everything but the lower part of his face. The cowl appeared as a facemask with black covering the front with two black ear like appendages sticking out the top and two white lenses over the eyes. Out of his gloves, three razor sharp blades, sprouted out of the knuckles of the gloves.
The second Colonel Moss saw the man, his eyes narrowed and burned with rage. "Wolverine." He snarled at the man.
Wolverine returned the Colonels glare with a smirk, revealing a set of very large canine teeth. "Hey bub, looks like you started the party without us."
Colonel Moss responded by pulling out his side arm and aiming it at the savage man. "Take him down!"
Immediately the remaining soldiers aimed their weapons at the knife-wielding vigilante. But before a shot could go off, the wind suddenly picked up, growing stronger and wilder. Stinkfly's attention was draw back to the jet where he saw several more people had exited the aircraft.
One was a beautiful woman with chocolate brown skin and long flowing snow-white hair. She wore skintight black suit with a golden belt around her waist with matching bracelets on each arm. On her back was a flowing cape with the base corners connecting to her bracelets, giving the appearance of wings.
The next person that exited the aircraft was a man who wore a large brown trench coat over his navy blue suit with a gold belt that had the same X symbol as Wolverine on it. But the most notable feature was the visor that he wore over his eyes. It was primarily silver with a red glowing lens.
Following him was another man, slightly younger, around Ben's age, and he was the most unusual of the group so far as it appeared his entire body was made of ice. He wore a uniform that was a darker shade of blue to his icy skin, with the same X symbol on the upper left side of his sleeveless shirt.
The final person to exit was a teenage girl, roughly the same age as the ice boy. She wore a similar yellow and blue uniform, like the others, with a yellow top, boots and sleeves, along with blue, tights, gloves and undershirt. The X symbol was on each shoulder of her uniform.
The unusual group of people descended to the ground, as they got closer the ice boy held out his hand and fired a beam of ice from it. The ice then created a slide allowing the group to safely descend to the ground without injury. However the white haired woman did not use the slide, instead she remained in the air, flying above the scene with her long flowing hair dancing behind her as if she was in the midst of a powerful windstorm.
Stinkfly watched as the group of people, including Wolverine, who had managed to disengage himself from the MRD soldiers, and joined the group as they stood in front of the little girl and himself as if protecting them from the soldiers.
Colonel Moss snarled at them as his men regrouped and aimed their weapons at them. "I'm only going to give you one chance! Surrender now, or be put down!" He declared.
In response the man made of ice scoffed. "Does this guy ever learn? Seriously, he must be used to us beating him by now?" He quipped to the girl next to him.
In response the girl gave a light chuckle. "Well then I guess he needs a refresher coarse in getting his butt kicked."
"If you think we're just gonna surrender, you got another thing comming, Moss!" the man in the visor stated. "As long as you keep locking up innocent Mutants, the X-Men will never stop fighting."
"So we can either do this the easy way. Or the hard way." Wolverine finished, unsheathing his blades and holding them up. "Your call, Bub."
Stinkfly just looked at the group in confusion. He'd never seen anyone like them before. But for some reason the name 'X-Men' did ring a bell. He might have heard a mention about a group of people who called themselves that on the news or from a conversation he was barely listening to. Either way, it was clear that these people were the good guys. Or people who certainly believed they were.
The Colonel didn't even hesitated as he gave the order to attack. Immediately the two sides moved to engage. Wolverine, sprung forward like a savage animal, swinging his knuckle blades like claws, slashing the soldiers weapons first and then cutting their arms or legs, causing them to fall to the ground in pain, but still alive.
The man with the visor lifted his right hand to the side of said visor and appeared to be pushing a button that was on the side of it. Suddenly a crimson beam of energy, blasted out of the visors lens, hitting the solders in the chest with enough force to send them flying several feet. The soldiers that where hit landed on the ground unconscious, with their armor scorched from the beams intensity.
The teenage girl stood calmly as three soldiers charged at her with what appeared to be stun batons in their hands. The closest one raised his baton and brought it down to strike the girl. However instead of hitting her, the baton passed right through the girl as it she was a ghost. The girl then proceeded to charge forward and pass right through the man, then when he turned around to find her, she delivered a spinning kick to his head, knocking him down. The other two soldiers looked at the girl in shock, but then they composed themselves and charged at her from either side in an attempt to corner her. They then leaped to try and tackle her down, but much like the first man, they both passed harmlessly through her and collided into each other, knocking themselves out. The girl smiled as she calmly walked to another part of the fight.
For the ice guy, he seemed to be enjoying himself tremendously. Soldiers lined up to shoot at him, but he simply created another ice slide and casually slid across it like a skate ramp, avoiding laser fire all with a big grin on his face. "You know, you guys need to chill out." He quipped as he turned his slide towards them and then held his other hand out, firing an ice beam at the soldiers. In a few short seconds, the line of soldiers had been completely encased in ice, with just their heads uncovered.
"Have a cold one, on me." The ice guy joked again, before skating off.
As the fight raged on, Stinkfly was finally starting to recover from his surprise attack and his strength was starting to return. But before he could attempt to free himself, the wind around him suddenly picked up and the white haired woman landed in front of him. Seeing her up close, Stinkfly couldn't help but marvel at her beauty the way she looked at him with those blue eyes and the way she held herself; it was as if her very aura demanded respect.
The white haired woman kneeled down to Stinkfly and reached out her hand. "Calm yourself, young one. I promise I will not harm you. I am here to help you. If you will allow me."
Stinkfly blinked with all four eyes, even her voice conveyed power. "Uh… Sure." He responded.
The woman smiled as she carefully removed the net from Stinkfly's body, taking great care to avoid damaging his wings. Once the net was off, Stinkfly got to his feet and stretched his limbs.
"Thanks for the save." He said gratefully.
The woman smiled. "You are most welcome. But time is short, we must leave immediately before more soldiers arrive."
Stinkfly nodded in response. "Got it."
The white haired woman then turned to the girl behind the insect-like alien. "Young one, you must come with us as well. I understand you must be scared, but it is not safe for you here. So please come with us." She held out her hand, expecting the girl to take it.
The little girl looked hesitant at first and looked up at the woman and alien before her. She looked at the hand one more time, but instead of taking it. She ran right passed the woman's hand and her as well and grabbed and held on to Stinkfly's right forward leg. The alien hero could feel her shaking as she held onto him. It was clear to him that out of all the people in the ally way, he was the one she was least scared of.
The little girl then glanced in the direction of the fight. Her eyes then immediately widened when she saw Colonel Moss glaring in her direction. The MRD soldier, glared at Stinkfly as he pulled out his side arm and aimed the pistol at the aliens head. The girls emotional levels went off the scale as her fears rushed to the surface as she thrust out her hand.
"GO AWAY!" She screamed. Suddenly a loud rumble caught the attention of everyone within the ally. They all looked up to see the water tower on the top of the neighboring building, rumble and creak as it shook wildly by an unknown force. Then the tower ruptured and a massive tendril of water sprang out of the tower. Gallons of water flowed straight from the tower and flowed down into the ally. Colonel Moss, saw the incoming tsunami, he tried in vain to brace himself from the incoming wave. The water collided with the Colonel, knocking him along with several MRD soldiers off their feet and washing them out of the ally, leaving them waterlogged in the middle of the street. However the strange part was, the water didn't flow anywhere near the heroes. The water actively flowed around the heroes and only hit the MRD soldier.
The heroes all looked at the scene with wide eyes. Stinkfly then looked down at the little girl holding his leg, her hand was still outstretched towards the end of the ally. It didn't take a genius to figure out what caused the urban flash flood.
No wonder these guys brought so much firepower for one little girl Stinkfly thought as he gazed at the child.
Back with the X-Men, Wolverine heard a groan as he looked back to see Moss and the other soldiers regaining consciousness. "Ok, X-Men! We're outta here! Fall back to the Blackbird! Storm, give us cover!" the man barked as he, along with the other X-Men disengaged from the soldiers.
The woman with the white hair immediately responded when Wolverine called out, meaning that she was Storm, as she called the winds to carry her into the air, Stinkfly grabbed the little girl and flew after her. Stinkfly figured that it would be in his best interest to go with these X-Men, if they were a superhero team like the Avengers, then they could help him.
The woman known as Storm, flew high into the air and raised her arms. Her blue eyes started glowing white as dark clouds began to swirl around her. Stinkfly saw as a thick layer of fog, formed around the area. Blanketing the area allowing the heroes to get to the jet and exit the area. Colonel Moss was able regain consciousness, just in time to see the jet disappear into the mist. The Colonels eyes narrowed at the vanishing aircraft.
"Darn Mutants. Your day will come." He vowed, clenching his fists as he watched the jet disappear into the dark sky.
Inside the black jet, Stinkfly and the little girl stood at the back of the aircraft, with the little girl still clutching the alien's leg. The X-Men where at the front of the aircraft, talking amongst themselves, most likely about what to do with them.
Stinkfly remained as he was because, if on the off chance he was wrong about these people, he would need to fight his way out. He also didn't change, due to the little girl currently attached to his leg. The child had not stopped trembling since they left the ally and it seemed that the only being she felt slightly comfortable around was Stinkfly. Whether it was because he came to save her or because the girl really liked insects, who knows. Either way, the girls vice like grip showed no sign of loosening from the aliens' limb.
Wanting to ease the girls' troubles, Stinkfly lowered his hand to the girl and stroked her back. The girl jumped slightly at the touch, but relaxed as he continued to move his hand up and down.
"Hey, hey. It's ok, you're safe now." The alien hero calmly said.
The girl still shook as she looked up at the alien hero.
"I- I want to go home. I want my mommy." She whimpered.
"Yeah, I know you do. This must all seem pretty freaky to you. Waking up one day normal, then boom you get these powers and suddenly your whole world turns upside down." Stinkfly then leaned down so he could look at the girl at eye level. "I felt the same way when I got my powers. I didn't know what I was doing and I totally freaked out."
The little girl sniffed and stopped shaking as she gave the alien a surprised look. "R-Really?"
"Yeah, I did. Man you should have seen it. First time I used my powers I almost burned down a forest. It was not my best day." The girl giggled for the first time since Stinkfly met her and the alien smirked. "What's your name, kid?" he asked, now that the he saw she had calmed down.
"Petra." The girl answered confidently.
"Nice to meet you, Petra. When I'm like this, you can call me, Stinkfly" The alien hero responded.
Petra giggled at the mention of his name. "That's a funny name. But I does make sense, you really stink." She said in a cheeky manor, as she made a face and held her nose.
Stinkfly gave a mock glare as he narrowed his eyes. "Oh yeah. Well you don't smell like a basket of roses either." He snarked back.
"That's still you. Your stink rubbed off on me, when you picked me up." Petra countered.
Stinkfly glared at the girl, then gave her a friendly smile and chuckled, which she joined in.
"Thank you for saving me, Mr. Stinkfly." Petra said once she calmed down.
"Anytime Petra." The Teen Hero responded. "But you don't have to call me Mr. just Stinkfly is fine."
"Is that your hero name?" she asked, curiously.
Stinkfly nodded. "Yep, that's the name I gave this guy when I first turned into him. I name all my forms."
Petra looked at him in confusion for a second, then suddenly her eyes widened as she put two and two together. "So all those guys on TV that have that badge thingy on them. They're…"
"Yep. They're all me." The alien hero confirmed.
"Wow." The little girl gasped in awe at the Wielder of the Ultimatrix.
Before they could continue, the X-Men suddenly entered the back of the plane where they where, the one called Wolverine at the front. Petra immediately looked nervous again and quickly moved behind Stinkfly, clutching his leg as she did.
"You two alright?" Wolverine asked in a gruff voice.
"Yeah, we're good." Stinkfly responded glancing at Petra as he did. "But, quick question. Who are you guys?"
The gruff man then pointed to himself. "Names Wolverine, bub." He then pointed to each member person that was present. "This is Storm, Cyclops, Iceman and Shadowcat." He said, gesturing to the white hair woman, the man with the visor, the ice guy and the ghost girl respectively. "We're the X-Men."
Wolverine then held out his hand, which Stinkfly shook. "Nice to meet you guys. I'm Stinkfly."
"Yeah, kinda figured." Wolverine responded dryly as his face adopted the look of disgust.
"Well anyway, thanks for helping me out back there." Stinkfly thanked.
"No problem." Iceman replied. "After all, us mutants gotta stick together."
At that sentence, Stinkfly's cheerful expression vanished and his teeth grinded together. This was getting ridiculous. "Oh for the hundredth time, I am not a MUTANT!" he yelled at the gathered group of people in from of him.
Immediately the X-Men, with the exception of Wolverine who simply crossed his arms, all tried to calm the angry teen down.
"Hey take it easy buddy." Iceman said. "Look I know this must come as a shock to you and you'll want to deny it. But once you embrace the truth, everything will be better. Trust us."
"Yeah we've all had to come to terms with our mutations." Shadowcat added.
Stinkfly simply groaned and shook his head. What is it with people in this universe, have they really never seen an alien before. And if not, why on Earth do they keep calling him a mutant? After seeing the group of people in front of him, people who actually claim themselves to be mutants, they look no different from normal people, with the exception of Iceman.
"No, really I'm not a mutant! I'm an alien!" Stinkfly exclaimed. This was met by a wide-eyed expression from everyone in the room. A reaction the Alien hero expected to receive. But he didn't pay attention to their surprised looks, as he was too preoccupied with his ramblings to notice. "I'm mean seriously, I've been in this Universe for over 4 months now and everyone still keeps calling me a mutant. I mean come on, why do people think that?"
Stinkfly then trailed off once he saw what was in front of him. In his mutant/alien rant, Stinkfly had inadvertently made his way to the front of the aircraft to where the pilot would be. The alien's eyes widened when he saw whom or what was flying the plane.
It looked like a large, blue Sasquatch. With long ape like limbs and blue shaggy fur covering him from head to toe. It wore a large open vest, with matching pants with the same color scheme as Wolverine and Shadowcats uniforms. The creature then turned to look at Stinkfly, revealing a fairly human face, with sharp blue eyes. The being smiled at the bug-like alien, displaying a set of very large canines.
"Well hello there, my young friend." The creature said, with a tone that seemed to suggest an advanced intellect. "I trust that you are recovering well after your ordeal with the MRD?"
Stinkfly just stood there gob-smacked at the sight of the being before him. "…. Oh now I get it." He finally said. The mystery to the constant mix-ups, finally clearing up.
However, his outburst did not sit to well with some of the other occupants on the jet. Wolverine snarled at the 'not- mutant' that they had just brought onto their jet.
"So you're not a mutant?" He questioned.
Stinkfly looked back at the mutant. "Well duh, that's what I've been saying." Seeing how the X-Men were starting to look a little uneasy around him, Stinkfly figured it would be a good idea to make a peaceful gesture. Reaching up to his head, the alien taped the Ultimatrix dial. In a flash of green light, the bug-like alien turned back into Ben's human form, his scarf mask pulled up over his nose and his green cap on his head concealed his identity.
Needless to say the X-Men where surprised to see a human teenage take the place of the giant insect. Suddenly Iceman pieced together whom the person standing before them was.
"Hey wait a second. I think I saw you on the news. You're one of those Avengers, right? The guy that changes in a flash of green light?"
"Yep, that's me." Ben said holding out his arms as if basking in the praise.
However instead of praise, all he received was a grunt from Wolverine. "Pfft, Avengers. Just a bunch'a washed up has bins with nothing to do and desperate for attention."
Ben immediately dropped his arms and looked at the Clawed mutant in confusion. He'd never received that reaction from anyone in this universe. So far, anyone who saw the Avengers, be it hero or civilian, they would shake his hand, ask for autographs and basically go all fanboy on him. Sure Ben has received the same treatment in his universe and he was pretty sick of it. But not since Will Harangue has anyone ever just dismissed him like that.
"Hey what's your problem, dude?" Ben questioned the guff man. "The Avengers have saved the world twice now, and we've been working to keep the world safe."
Wolverine just scoffed again as he glared at the teen hero. "Look kid. The X-Men have been around a lot longer than your little band. We've been stickin our necks out for those punks for years without a simple thank you. You have no idea what's going on." He snarled as he turned away and walked to the front of the jet and sat down next to the blue Sasquatch.
Ben raised his eyebrow at the comment. What did he mean by that? Suddenly Ben felt a cold chill creep up his right arm, he turned to see Iceman standing right next to him with a friendly grin on his face.
"Hey, don't let the big guy get to you. He's always like that." He told the teen hero. Suddenly his body began to change, his icy skin morphed into normal skin and he took on the appearance of a Caucasian teenage boy, with blond hair and blue eyes.
He then held out his hand to Ben. "My names Bobby, by the way. Bobby Drake."
Ben shook the teen's hand, taking note that even in normal mode his hand was still cold. "Nice to meet you." Ben replied.
Bobby raised an eyebrow at the Alien Avengers response. "Aren't you gonna tell me your name? I'm reaching out an olive branch here, dude."
Suddenly the ice mutant got smacked upside the head by the teen girl, known as Shadowcat. "Bobby, don't be rude. He obviously doesn't want people to know his identity. Not everyone is as comfortable about sharing personal details as you are."
Bobby scratched the back of his head and chuckled nervously. "Hehe, sorry about that."
"It's ok." Ben replied. "I just had a little trouble with my secret identity and I'd rather not repeat it."
Shadowcat nodded, "Completely understandable. A lot of us have to hide who we are from people." She explained with a hint of sadness.
"Why?" Ben asked confused. "Why do you need to hide?"
"Cause we're mutants." The one called Cyclopes stated, as if it were obvious.
Ben however was still confused. Was being a mutant really such a bad thing? Sure he made a big deal about being called one, but that was mainly for accuracy's sake. But now he was starting to see that being a mutant meant something more than what he first thought.
"What does being a mutant have to do with anything? Is it really a bad thing?" Ben asked, curiously.
The reactions from each member of the X-Men varied from slight awkwardness to confusion.
"You really are an alien." Cyclops said as he crossed his arms. "People hate mutants. They think we're all a bunch of unstable weapons that are better off locked up."
Ben's eyes widened. He couldn't believe that being a mutant could be that bad for people in this universe. Then again, he could understand how they felt. After all, people back in his universe didn't react well when they found out aliens where living on earth.
His musings where interrupted when Beast spoke up. "You see my young friend. The mutant gene, or X-gene as we have come to call it, is an evolutionary phenomenon that has occurred in humans for many generations. Much like how one is born with an extra toe or two different coloured irises, Mutants are born with unique powers that develop throughout their lives. Many have come to the conclusion that Mutants are the next step in human evolution." He explained. Then his face turned sour.
"But a large majority of the population do not agree with that hypothesis and stated that Mutants are a plague upon humanity and a danger to normal people. This has lead to many people hating and fearing us, causing many mutants to hide their powers from the public and never embrace their powers. Which has only strengthened people fear, leading to government officials to try and pass a law to register every mutant in existence."
A dark shadow cast over every X-Men's face as Beast explained their situation to Ben. As if each one was individually reliving the horrors they where forced to go through simply because they where born different.
Ben held a huge amount of sympathy for the group. Unlike them, he wasn't born with his powers, fate just sent them crashing into his life. Sure everyone he saved didn't always admire him. But that didn't stop him from doing the right thing.
The teen hero sighed as he looked around at the group. "I'm sorry that you all have to live like this. I know what it's like to be despised by the public. After all, aliens don't exactly get the best rep from the media." That at least earned a smile from some of them. "But I know that if we keep doing the right thing, then people will start seeing us in a new light."
The room was silent in the aircraft as only the rumble of the engines was the only audible sound that was present as Ben words sunk into everyone in the room. Even Ben reflected on what he said, he doubted that his speech would have been any help to them, but he hoped that he could have at least boosted their morals a little by showing that there was one Non-Mutant in the world that didn't hate them.
Suddenly, Ben felt something grip his left hand. He looked down to see Petra holding his hand and looking up at him, the sparks of hope dancing in her eyes.
"Do you really think, people will like us one day?" She asked him.
Ben smiled and knelt down so he'd be looking her in the eyes. "I do. People may be mean at first. But that just means you have to work hard to prove that we are not monsters, but Heroes."
Petra's eyes smiled as her eyes filled with wonder. She then hugged Ben, wrapping her arms around his waist. "I wanna be a hero like you someday." She said.
Ben gave her a warm smile and patted the little girl on the head. Part of being a hero was helping people sure, but inspiring them to do better makes the job worth a whole lot more.
"Sorry to interrupt this touchy-feely moment. But where about to land." Wolverine called over his shoulder, completely ruining the moment.
Ben rolled his eyes as he and Petra went to take their seats in the jets seating area along with the other X-Men. After a few minutes of rumbling and shaking from the jet, the aircraft finally stabilized and the engines powered down, signaling that the aircraft had come to a landing.
The X-Men, Petra and Ben then exited the craft via the loading ramp. Ben paused for a second to look around the room. It was a large open hanger, with shiny silver metal covering the walls. Aside from the X-Jet and a few cargo crates, the entire room was largely bare.
Ben and Petra proceeded to follow the mutant group, Petra staying close to Ben as it seems he was the only one she fully trusted at the moment, as the headed to a large circular door on one side of the hanger, with a large X like design on it. With an electronic hiss, the door slid open, but before the group could exit out of it, someone else entered.
He was a lanky Caucasian man with black hair along with a beard and mustache. He had brown eyes. But his most noticeable feature was the silver robotic appendage that replaced his left leg. He wore a gold and blue uniform similar to the other X-Men along with a pair of welder's goggles around his forehead.
Currently the man had a worried look on his face as he tried to look over the shoulders of the X-Men in front of him. "What happened? What did you do to the Jet? Please tell me you didn't trash it again?" the man asked in a concerned tone.
"Relax peg leg, the bird is fine." Wolverine gruffly replied. He then gave the mechanic an evil smirk. "Though if you like, I can take her for another spin? Maybe into the nearest Hurricane."
The mans face immediately paled at Wolverines words. But before he could freak out, Storm placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Relax Forge, Logan is kidding." She assured him, though her tone suggested that she wasn't sure.
Forge let out a sigh of relieve as the team walked past him. He raised an eyebrow at Ben and Petra, luckily Iceman quickly stepped in to give a quick introduction. Once that was done the teen moved on, leaving Forge in the hanger to work on the X-Jet.
After a few minutes the group entered what appeared to be a wreck room of some sorts, with tables and chairs set up along with a pool table and other entertainment devices. Once they where all in the room, the X-Men then turned to face to two new comers.
"So what to do with you two." Wolverine said as he crossed his arms.
"Well for starters, how about you tell me where we are?" Ben asked crossing his arms.
"Ah yes of course, how rude of us." Beast said slightly embarrassed. "This is the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngers. A boarding school founded by Professor Charles Xavier, to help educate young mutants use their powers for the benefit on mankind."
Hearing that, Ben looked around the facility, seeing nothing but metal walls and a high tech hanger, the place did not really look like a school.
"You sure this place is a school?" He questioned.
"These are the lower levels." Shadowcat explained. "This areas more for training. Its upstairs where the classes are held."
"Ah Ok got it." Ben said nodding his head. Then something occurred to him. Aside from Shadowcat and Iceman, there didn't seem to be any people his age or younger, running around the facility. Was there some sort of holiday going on?
"So if this is a school, where are the students?" Ben asked the X-Men.
Immediately the faces of the mutants dropped as an uncomfortable silence fell over them. As if a dark cloud had dampened their spirits.
"We're in the process of remodeling." Shadowcat vaguely stated.
Seeing their discomfort, Ben felt it best not to push the topic. Whatever happened to them in the past with them had clearly left some scares.
But before he could say anything to steer the conversation in a different direction, a sudden popping sound and a puff of crimson black smoke appeared right in front of the Alien Avenger and young girl. When the smoke cleared, Ben saw a truly unusual sight before him.
It appeared to be a blue demon, with yellow eyes and pointed ears. A long arrow tipped tail produced from the base of its spin. It had three fingers on each hand and two toes on each foot. It wore a red and black suit with an X in the center of his chest and wore white gloves and boots.
"Guten Tag, Mon Freundes." The Blue Demon greeted to the X-Men in a German accent. The demon then noticed to two new comers in the room and adopted a look of surprise. "Oh, I did not realize, we had guests." He then walked over to them and held out his hand to great them. "Hello, I am Kurt Wagner, but in the Munich circus a was called the Incredible Nightcrawler."
For Ben, seeing strange creatures like this Nightcrawler was nothing new. He could turn into alien creatures that were easily stranger than him. But for Petra, seeing a blue demon just appear out of thin air, she did the one thing that any child would do when confronted with that. She squealed in fright and hid behind Ben, clutching his leg like a lifeline.
However, instead of being insulted or upset by the girls' reaction, Nightcrawler simply knelt down on one knee and gave Petra a warm smile.
"There, there, Fräulein." He cooed in a soft tone. "There is no need to fear me. I will not harm you. I am a friend."
"You promise." Came the muffled response from behind Ben's leg.
"I promise." Nightcrawler replied.
Hesitantly, Petra made her way out from behind Ben's leg and was met with the kind, friendly face of the fuzzy blue mutant. Slowly, the little girl's frightened demeanor melted away and she gave the blue furry mutant a friendly smile.
Already Ben could see that the young mutant was starting to warm up to the others, himself included. These heroes reminded him of his old team a little bit. A group of outcasts that work to make the world a better place even when most people feared them. It reminded him of all his friends back in his dimension.
He smiled at the thought of them. Ever since opening up to Janet and dating Carol, Ben no longer felt the same stabbing pain and regret he felt whenever he thought about those he lost. Instead he felt happy reminiscing about the old days and enjoyed the memories he had with them. Knowing in his heart that he was honoring them as he continued fighting for the safety of the world.
"Well what do we have here?" A sultry voice suddenly rang out, interrupting Ben's musings.
The Alien hero turned around and upon seeing the source of the voice, his jaw practically hit the ground. Standing in the doorway, was arguably the most beautiful woman Ben had ever seen in his entire life. With smooth fair skin, pale blonde hair and blue eyes. She looked as if she was carved from marble. She wore a white tank top with an X in the center if her chest just under her partially exposed cleavage. She also wore with long white gloves that cover her entire arms. She also wore a white cape and white jeans held by a belt and white heels. Finally, she had a white collar around her neck as well as blue lipstick.
Although despite her beauty, Ben could feel there was something more to the woman. As she looked at him with her crystal clear blue eyes, Ben could see the cold calculating intelligence behind them. Like she was studying him like a detective to a criminal in a line up.
"Well isn't anyone going to introduce me to our new guests?" the woman asked in a silky British accent.
Beast then cleared his throat and addressed the white woman. ""Ah yes, allow us to introduce Emma Frost. Miss Frost, this little one is Petra, the young mutant you detected earlier this evening. And this young man, helped aid in her rescue."
That comment spiked Ben's interest. What did he mean by 'detected' before he could ponder that thought further, Beast then gestured to him and the woman known as Emma Frost, stared at him, making his face immediately start to feel warm.
"Charmed I'm sure." Emma said in a friendly, yet cold manner as she held out her hand to shake his.
Ben took the soft hand in his and shook it. "A pleasure to meet you Miss Frost." He said in a polite manner.
Emma in return grinned at the teen hero "The pleasure is all mine."
"The kid claims he ain't got any beef with mutants. Is he telling the truth, or is he just full of it?" Wolverine asked as he shot Ben with a dirty look.
Emma Frost then casually walked over to Ben and looked him straight in the eyes. Ben could feel his face growing warm at the close proximity between them. Emma's brow contracted at she appeared to be concentrating on something. Then he adopted a look of confusion as she took a step back.
"I'm not sure." She responded.
That answer apparently was unexpected from her as everyone apart from Ben and Petra looked at her in confusion.
"Whaddya mean you don't know? You said you where the best telepath there is. How can you not read his mind?" Wolverine questioned.
Ben's eyes immediately widened at the mention of mind reading. "Whoa, wait, mind reading? You mean you were trying to go into my personal thoughts without my permission. Talk about a complete violation on my privacy lady."
In response, Emma merely huffed like it wasn't an issue at all. "Usually a mind is like an open book to me. But yours is different. There's some kind of interference that prevents me from delving deeper into your mind. Though I can read what you are currently thinking about."
Ben mentally smirked as he thanked Azmuth for that feature. Being the smartest being in several galaxies, you would take telepathic species into account when designing the most powerful device in the universe. So to prevent the effects of mind control from Psychic aliens, Azmuth designed the Ultimatrix to block any telepathic attack that would try to take over the wielders mind. But it would allow current thoughts or communication to be permitted should the species only communicate through telepathy.
"Look, I know I only have words. But I'm not the bad guy. I was actually looking for a bad guy when I got roped up in this." Ben explained.
"Those guys that broke out of the prisons?" Shadowcat asked.
"Yep. He was one guy that was held in the Big House. A guy called Whirlwind."
The mention of that name, Emma Frost immediately perked up. "Whirlwind? Is the mutant convict capable of generating wind funnels around his body?" she asked.
"That guy is a mutant?" Ben responded, puzzled. The teen hero then mentally kicked himself for skimming over the file again.
"Wait you said you couldn't read his mind. How could you know who Whirlwind is?" Cyclops asked.
"Because Cerebro detected him a short while ago." Emma responded casually.
Ben raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Who's Cerebro?"
"Not who. What." Shadowcat corrected. "It's a mutant tracker that allows us the find mutants in need."
"Or bad ones trying to hide." Iceman added.
"And certainly not something we should be discussing with a stranger." Wolverine snapped at the group.
"Oh Logan do not be so quick to judge." Storm said, crossing her arms at the gruff mutant. "He risked his life to save this young one. I think we can give him the benefit of the doubt."
Wolverine simply huffed in response. "Your funeral."
"Ok moving on from Mr. Paranoid, you said you were able to track Whirlwind. Do you think you cold tell me where he is?" Ben asked the Pale Beauty.
"Possibly." Emma responded in a casual tone. "Though there is the matter of the trust issue. Wolverine is right. Actions hardly justify ones intent, how can we be sure you're not some spy for the MRD?"
This resulted in a murmur between the mutants, half of it being the surprise that Emma actually agreed with Wolverine about something and the other half about the logic of her words. The teen did help them, but they cannot be sure that he isn't hiding some ulterior motive.
Ben couldn't blame them for thinking that. After all, he went through the same thing when Kevin started helping him and Gwen. And even more recently when Hawkeye joined the Avengers. For a while there was a period of suspicion about the archers true motives. And despite his claims that he only joined so he could have a cover story for his hunt for the Black Widow, it was clear to everyone what he meant.
So if Ben wanted to gain their trust, he had to make the first move. Hesitantly, Ben reached up and pulled down his mask and removed his cap, allowing everyone present to see his face. "My name is Ben Tennyson."
The silence that followed was so deafening that a pin drop could have been heard from the next room over. Different levels of surprise were on each mutants face. This caused Ben to feel slightly awkward, despite his claim to want to keep his identity hidden, he was sure making a habit of revealing it to every hero he came across. Though as he thought about it, that wasn't really much of a change from how things where in his universe. Almost every hero and villain knew who he was; it was just the public that was kept in the dark about it.
After what felt like an eternity of stunted silence, Shadowcat eventually spoke up. "Well I don't know about you guys. But that's good enough for me. Nice to meet you Ben, I'm Kitty Pryde."
Ben smiled and shook her hand; he then did the same with Beast, Cyclops and Storm, who introduced themselves as Hank McCoy, Scott Summers and Ororo Munroe respectively. Wolverine simply gave his signature grunt, but he seemed to accept the gesture as well.
With that all being established, Emma lead the group down the corridor to a solitary door at the end of the hallway. Once it opened, Ben looked around in awe. The entire room was like the inside of a giant ball, with silver rectangular panels lining the walls. There was a single catwalk that led to a round platform in the center. Emma walked ahead and sat down at what looked like an advance computer console. But instead of a screen, there was an odd looking helmet with two wires connecting it to the desk.
Emma placed the helmet on her head and typed a few keys into the console. The humming of machines could be heard and suddenly the panels that lined the walls seemed to vanish as Ben suddenly saw a projection of the entire world stretch out in front of him. The surprise didn't stop there as the teen hero then saw blinking yellow lights start appearing all over every continent.
"Welcome to Cerebro, Ben Tennyson." Emma Frost said from her seat. "From this seat, my psychic powers are increased to beyond their usual limits. My mind is connected to every mind on the planet."
Ben felt his mind practically explode at this point, the idea of one person being connected to everyone on earth seemed almost God-like.
"These lights represent all the humans in the world." Emma continued, snapping Ben out of his stupor. Then suddenly, the yellow lights were then replaced by a smaller number of red lights that hardly made up five percent of the world. "And these lights, represent all the mutants."
Seeing how small the mutant population was compared to the regular humans, Ben couldn't help but be reminded of several historical events he learnt of in middle school. It was sad to think that events like that were still continuing to this day.
Shaking his head of that sad thought, the teen hero then saw the world image zoom into America, more specifically New York, and centered in on a single red dot that seemed to be moving away from the outline of the shore and heading to another landmass that was completely populated by red dot.
Ben raised an eye brow in confusion as Emma sighed and took off the helmet, the images fading as a result.
"It appears Whirlwind is heading straight for Genoshia." She said in a disappointed tone.
The X Men's response was a mixture of nervousness and anger; the later was clearly shown on Wolverine as he clenched his hands so tightly that his claws popped out.
After asking what the problem was, the X Men revealed that Genoshia is an island nation for mutants. A place for mutant to live without being shamed by the public. They then explained that the ruler of the island is a man called Magneto, a long time enemy of the X Men who wanted mutants to rule the world and conquer all humans. But apparently after years of fighting, Magneto apparently settled for his own patch of land and gave up, which none of the X Men believed for a second.
"Well I'm sure if we just explain the situation to him, this Magneto guy should know the laws about harboring a fugitive." Ben stated.
In response Wolverine just chuckled. "Kid, Magneto wouldn't give a darn about what the law says. He'd welcome any mutant that came to his island with open arms. Hell he'd probably throw them a stinkin parade once he finds out he's a criminal."
Instead of trying to continue arguing, Ben just simply sighed and started walking away.
"Were are you going?" Shadowcat asked.
"To Genoshia." Came Ben's response.
"Bad idea." Nightcrawler stated as he teleported in front of Ben. "Magneto is hardly kind to his own people, but if a human showed up to his kingdom. I can't even imagine vhat he vould do."
Despite his ominous warning, the teen hero simply smirked in response. "Dude, I've faced worse threats than some old guy with magnet powers. Plus, I'm not just gonna let a criminal escape like that. It's my job to bring all bad guys to justice, and if I have to fight my way through a whole island of evil mutants to do it. Bring it on."
Nightcrawler looked as though he was going to try and sway the teen's decision, but seeing the determination in his eyes made it clear that he was not going to change his mind. The blue demon sighed as he stood aside and allowed the Alien Avenger to pass.
"You're not gonna stop no matter what we say, are ya?" Wolverine spoke up, crossing his arms as he leaned against the doorframe.
Ben stopped for a moment and glanced back at the X Men's leader. "One thing you should know about me, Claw Guy. I never give up, ever."
The Savage Mutant stared at the Alien Teen for a long time before closing his eyes and letting out a deep sigh. "Frost, tell Forge to prep the X-Jet. Kitty, Bobby, Elf, you're with me."
Everyone looked at Wolverine in shock as he started walking towards the hanger.
"Logan, what are we doing?" Shadowcat asked in confusion.
"The kid wants to run a suicide mission. Might as well see how it goes. And bring whatever's left of him back." He snarked in response.
Ben smirked as he took that as Wolverines way of saying they'll help him. Nodding at the Clawed Mutant, Ben then turned back to she Petra looking a little nervous. Ben gave the young girl a confident wink and turned his attention to Storm.
"Take care of her, please." He asked.
Storm nodded. "She'll be safe here, we'll let her parents know what happened and we wont let anything happen to her." She assured.
Ben nodded in response and said a quick goodbye to the young mutant before running of to join the others.
A few minutes later, the X-Jet was soaring over the ocean towards the island nation of Genoshia. Inside the X Men quickly briefed Ben on what he should expect when they get there.
"Last time we showed up guns blazing. It did not go so well." Wolverine explained grimly. "But since Magneto is committed to this friends-to-all-mutants act, Me, Bobby and Kitty will walk up to the gate and try to get his attention. Meanwhile you and Kurt will sneak into his castle and find Whirlwind."
"How do you know Whirlwind will be there?" Ben asked.
"Because that where Magneto houses all his new guests." Nightcrawler explained. "He gives them a taste of luxury to create the illusion of a paradise. Then once they settle in, he subjects them to his rule and they blindly follow like sheep."
Ben couldn't help but notice the grim tone the blue demon took on as he spoke. It would seem he had some experience with Genoshia's accommodations before. Ben decided not to ask him about it, as it was not his place to pry.
"Speaking of which. Any word from your girlfriend, Elf?" Wolverine asked, interrupting the conversation.
Nightcrawler scowled at the clawed mutants remark. "She is not my girlfriend, Logan!"
Ben then leaned over to Shadowcat. "What that about."
Shadowcat smirked slyly as she leaned over to whisper in his ear. "Apparently when Kurt was on Genoshia, he had a thing for one of the mutants there. He likes her and apparently she likes him, but it's kinda… complicated."
"Cause they're both on opposite sides?" Ben asked.
"Kinda." Iceman responded having been eavesdropping on the conversation. "You see… she's sort of… uhhh…"
"She's Magnetos daughter." Nightcrawler then dryly stated. Apparently those ears weren't just for show, as he was able to hear a whispered conversation from where he was sitting.
"Oh." Ben simply stated. "Well that is complicated."
"Indeed." Nightcrawler simply responded.
The rest of the plane ride was relatively quite, but mercifully short as the X-Jet passed through a fog bank and soon an island came into view. From the air, it did look like the paradise the others said it was. With gleaming metal towers and lush gardens spotted throughout the city. The place did paint the scene of perfection. But as Ben knew from experience, nothing is what it appears to be.
The X-Jet soon touched down in front of a large castle like building at the summit of the island. Wolverine, Iceman and Shadowcat all moved to the exit ramp and started to make their way towards the castles courtyard. From the cockpit, Ben could see several mean looking individuals approach them from the castle to meet them. Taking this as their queue, Nightcrawler grabbed Ben and in a puff of red/black smoke, they vanished from the sight.
On a balcony overlooking the courtyard, a burst of black smoke revealed Nightcrawler and a slightly dazed Ben.
"Oh man that was wired." Ben said as he wobbled slightly on his feet.
Nightcrawler grinned cheekily as he patted the teen hero on the back. "Don't worry. The effects will wear off and after a few more teleports, you'll get used to it."
"Thanks, but I think I'll stick to my usual mode of transport thank you." Ben replied groggily.
After taking a moment to recover, the two set out exploring the castle. Nightcrawler led Ben down a series of corridors to where the guests were usually kept. Once they arrived, they started looking through each room in the hall, but so far had no luck locating the escaped villain.
Then about halfway through their search, they were alerted to the sound of footsteps echoing down the far end of the hall indicating someone was approaching. Not wanting to get caught, the mutant and alien shapeshifter ran back the way they came. But in their heist, neither of them was aware of their surroundings and ended up running down two different corridors. Ben taking the right corridor, Nightcrawler running left.
Ben ran down his corridor, trying to be as quiet as possible. He considered using one of his aliens to hide, but he figured a blinding flash of green light would not help his chances of hiding. Even more so if the Ultimatrix did not give him the alien he wanted. So running and hiding was his best option for now. As he turned another corner, he heard yet another series of footsteps coming from up head. Luckily Ben noticed a door to his left and quickly entered through it, closing the door behind him as he entered the room.
Ben held his breath as he waited for the footsteps to pass him. Once he felt it was safe, he allowed the air to escape his lungs as he sighed in relief. He was about to exit the room, when he noticed something about it. The room was much larger than the others he had previously looked in. Then he noticed at the far end was what appeared to be a metal throne, elevated at the far end.
At that point Ben quickly deducted that he must be in the room of the evil Magneto guy the X Men mentioned. All bad guys want to feel like their 'King of the World' in their evil layer. Ben curiously walked towards the throne. As he did he noticed something to his left. A metal stand that looked like it was pulled and stretched from the floor was positioned near the throne. On top of it was an odd looking helmet.
It was primarily red, with a silver trim along the sides. It had an opening at the front that was wide around the eyes, but narrow around the mouth area. Positioned on the forehead was a piece of metal in the shape of a vicious looking tuning fork!
Cautiously Ben reached his hand out to touch the helmet. But before his figure could even come into contact with it, it shifted slightly and then lifted into the air. Ben's eyes widened as the hairs on the back of his neck stood up as he felt a strange current run through the air. The helmet floated in front of the teen hero before gliding around him.
Ben's eyes followed the helmets movements as he watched it fly straight into the hands of its master. He was an elderly man, with silver hair and eyes. He wore a full body suit that was primarily red with light purple gloves and boots. A long purple cape flowed out behind him. This was Magneto, the Master of Magnetism
"I do not take kindly to intruders in my chambers. Who are you and why have you come here?" The man questioned in a strong, authoritive voice.
Keeping his cool, Ben simply shrugged his shoulders. "Sorry dude, got lost. This place is built like a maze, you should consider putting a directory in here."
"You think I am a fool, boy?" the man said in a threatening tone.
"What? No of course not." Ben said in an innocent tone. "I was just looking for the bathroom."
Magneto's eyes narrowed at the teen. "Hmph, I don't know what task that muscle bound oaf Wolverine has assigned to you, but I'm giving you this one chance. Forsake this delusional ideology of Mutants and Humans living in harmony and embrace the true that mutants like us are the next stage in evolution. Turn your back on humanity and join you mutant brothers and sisters in paradise."
The way this guy talked mad Ben thing of the Leader of Flame Keepers Circle. Spouting off this righteous talk like his views where the absolute truth. It took all of Bens self-control to prevent him from rolling his eyes at the old mans rambling.
After a moment, the Alien Teen placed his hand to his chin, as if pondering the idea. "You know. That is a very tempting offer." He said, earning a small grin from the old man.
"But there's just one problem with that." He continued smirking at the dictator. "I'm not a mutant."
Magneto expression did not change, but his eyes turned to that of malice. The tension within the room increased to the point where it could be cut with a machete. Ben instinctively moved his hand closer to the Ultimatrix, an uneasy feeling washed over him as he kept his eyes on the Evil Mutant.
"I can't say I'm surprised." Magneto said, ending the silence. "You Homosapiens. Has your desperation for dominance resorted you to this? Intruding on my lands to spy on my people. Turning my own kind against me. Seems your kind needs to be reminded of their place."
As he spoke, Ben could feel the entire room vibrating as Magnetos eyes started to glow white.
"I will make an example of you, boy. So your kind will think twice about challenging my power." Magneto stated as he rose from the ground and raised his hands.
"Wow, boy are you overconfident." Ben replied to the rambling mutant. "I mean I've heard a lot of monologues from would be conquerors, but you sir." Ben paused as he started clapping his hands in a mock applause. "You take the cake. I mean that performance. That was Shakespearian. Almost makes me feel bad about kicking your butt."
Magneto scoffed at the heroes claim. "You are as arrogant as you are foolish. I will teach you to bow down to your superior!"
The master of Magnetism pointed his hands at Ben and immediately several pieces of metal pealed from the walls and sharpened themselves into blades and flew towards the young hero. Ben didn't move as he prepared to activate the Ultimatrix. However before he could react the controls, a blue blur tackled him out of the way from the incoming projectiles.
Ben was dazed slightly from the impact. Once his vision cleared, he look down and saw Nightcrawler on top of him, having pushed him out of the way from the metal projectiles.
"You should be more mindful of your surroundings." The blue demon quipped as he stood up to face Magneto.
Magneto chuckled as he looked at Nightcrawler. "I knew you would return eventually, my friend. I hope now you see the errors of your ways and we can now start a new?"
Nightcrawler narrowed his eyes. "The only error I have ever made was coming here in the first place." He snapped back.
In response Magneto sighed. "How disappointing. It would seem you require further education."
But before he could attack, a loud feral roar sounded out behind him. Magneto turned to see Wolverine leaping at him with his claws extended, posed to slash the evil mutant.
However, instead of panicking at the sight of a crazed Wildman flying at him, Magneto simply raised his hand and Wolverine froze in mid air just inches from his enemy. The Clawed mutant grunted as he couldn't move his body at all as Magneto held him.
That certainly caught Ben by surprise. From what he was told, Magneto could only control metal. But if he could stop Wolverine, does that mean that it's not just his claws that were metal?
"You never learn do you?" the Master of Magnetism taunted the Clawed Mutant as he held him suspended.
"It's called a distraction, bub." Wolverine responded with a smirk.
Magneto raised an eyebrow when suddenly Nightcrawler appeared in a puff of smoke and slammed both his feet into Magnetos back. The Magnetic mutant fell onto the floor with a loud thud. The sudden attack caused him to loose focus and freed Wolverine from his control.
The two X-Men then tried to move on the Master of Magnetism. But it seemed the elderly mutant had more stamina than he appeared as he quickly recovered from the attack and raised a metal floor plate beneath them and knocked them off balance. He then used his powers to send Wolverine flying into Nightcrawler and sent them both flying into the wall.
The impact caused Nightcrawler to become dazed, rendering him unable to teleport. The Magnetic Mutant then forced Wolverine to place his knuckles underneath Nightcrawler's chin.
"I warned you about this before, Wolverine." Magneto stated in a stern tone. "Now you must pay the price for your idiocy."
Wolverine struggled with all his strength, but Magnetos power was just to strong as he started forcing Wolverines claws out of his knuckles, threatening to impale Nightcrawler's head.
At that moment a blinding green light erupted from nowhere, causing the Master of Magnetism to shield his eyes. Once the light died down a voice called out, "LOADSTAR!" before Magneto suddenly felt his own suit get pulled by an invisible force against the wall.
Magneto was surprised by the sudden attack, but was even more surprised by the culprit. The Evil mutant looked over to see Loadstar standing in the place of the human intruder, holding his pincer hands out, disorienting the air around them as they did.
"Let's see how you like a taste of you own medicine." The Alien mocked as he held the mutant in place.
Without Magnetos power influencing him, Wolverine dropped to the ground along with a still dazed Nightcrawler. The gruff mutant then took a moment to be amazed at the fact that the kid who he wasn't sure he could trust, save him and his friend from one of his worst enemies. Perhaps the kid wasn't so bad after all?
Loadstar then turned to Wolverine. "You good?"
Wolverine shook his head before responding. "Yeah I am, but Elf is still out."
"Where are the others?" The Alien asked.
"Outside still dealing with Magnetos thugs." Wolverine explained.
Loadstar nodded. "Ok, get him out of here and get back to the jet. I'll deal with this guy and meet up with you."
As much as Wolverine didn't like running from a fight. He knew the kid was right. Nightcrawler was in no condition to fight and against Magneto, he was more likely to be a liability than an aid.
Reluctantly the Clawed mutant nodded. "Just don't get yourself killed, punk. I'll cut your pinky off if you do."
If Ben could smirk, he would have, but instead he settled for simply nodding at the gruff mutant as he grabbed his friend and ran out of the room.
Once they were gone, Loadstar turned his attention back to Magneto. "Not so tough when the magnets in the other hand, huh?"
Magneto grunted in annoyance at the Alien Avenger. "You think this can stop my boy. Who do you think I am?"
With that his eyes started glowing and with a mighty push, Magneto broke free of Loadstars grip and sent a wave of magnetic energy at the alien hero, causing him to slide back a few feet.
Loadstar narrowed his eyes at the Magnetic Mutant, who floated just above the ground opposite him. "Ok then, let's see who has the stronger pole." He quipped as he used his powers to tear a piece of metal from the walls and send it flying at Magneto.
But Magneto easily caught the flying scrap and caused it to split apart and mold into the shape of spears. He then sent them screaming towards Loadstar at breakneck speeds.
Loadstar immediately reacted buy creating a magnetic shield around him, blocking the spears, causing them to be knocked away and impaled in different parts of the room. He then magnetized the floor to create a large wall of metal, which he then sent charging towards the Magnetic mutant.
But Magneto easily caught that to. However, Loadstar was expecting that. Just as Magneto caught the charging wall, Loadstar created a second wall directly behind the Evil Mutant and moved it to trap him from behind. The second wall slammed into Magneto and forced him into the first wall, pinning him in-between them. But Loadstar didn't stop there; he then created two more metal walls on either side of Magneto and forced them together, effectively trapping the Mutant in a big metal box.
Loadstar nodded in satisfaction. "Well looks like your out of your league, Old Man. I'm just too attractive."
However his gloating was cut short when he felt something grab both of his legs. Loadstar looked down to see a pair of metal tendrils, snake out of the ground and ensnare both of his legs. The Teen Hero's eyes widened as he heard his metal box, creak and groan until it broke away and bend until it formed into a perfectly smooth ring that flowed around a very Angry Magneto like a river.
"You naïve child. You think that because you can demonstrate a few mild feats of magnetism that you are a match for me. I am the Master of Magnetism. Let me show you why."
The Magnetic Mutant then sent his river of metal shooting towards Loadstar. The Alien Teen tried to bloke it, but the force of the current was to great as it carried him across the room and into the wall. The metal ran over him like water until it covered most of his body. Loadstar tried to counter the magnetic field with his own, but as he pushed against it, he felt an even greater force push back.
Magneto grinned as he approached the trapped hero. "You see, your power pales in comparison to mine. I am your superior." He gloated.
Loadstar grunted as he tried to push against the field, but Magneto was right. Ben just didn't have the experience Magneto did when it came to this power. He lives with the power on a daily bases; Ben just borrows it from time to time. When it comes to magnetism, Magneto had the home field advantage.
So the only thing he could do, was get him out of his comfort zone. Focusing on the sensation of the field, Loadstar was able to figure out that he was using a positive charge magnetic energy, while Magneto was using a negative charge, therefore causing the metal to be attracted to him. Focusing on his powers, Loadstar changed his charge to negative, causing the metal trapping him to instantly be repelled, shooting away from him like flies from bug spray.
Now freed from his imprisonment, the teen hero glared at Magneto, who had an amused smile on his face.
"Impressive." He said. "It would seem that you're not as imprudent as I initially believed."
"I'm just awesome like that." Loadstar boasted. "But now it's time it for me to teach you a lesson." He then slammed the Ultimatrix dial, which then blanketed the area in a green flash.
"NRG!" the nuclear alien yelled as his large metal armor clanged against the hard floor.
Magneto simply looked at the new creature in amusement. "It seems I must retract my previous statement. I control metal, what use is a metal suit against me?"
The alien hero smirked under his grill. "It is not the suit that will defeat you. Its vhat's inside." NRG stated.
Suddenly the alien's hands started glowing red, which he then proceeded to place on the floor. Pretty soon the metal on the floor started to glow red as well, spreading across like an infection, the trail then spread to the walls and then the ceiling, until the entire room was glowing red.
It was then that Magneto started to feel warm, then that warmth started to grow more intense and intense, and then it reached the point where he felt like he was boiling. The Master of Magnetism gasped in pain as the heat became unbearable. At that moment he realized what the human shapeshifter was doing. He was using the metal as a conductor for his heat to turn the whole room into a giant oven.
Megneto groaned in pain as the heat grew worse and worse. He tried to move away but the intensity of the heat made moving even worse. The Master of Magnetism then tried to attack the Alien Avenger, but the heat made it impossible for him to focus, he was literally roasting inside his suit.
"Science 101. Magnets loose charge in high temperatures." The Alien hero stated, as he increased the temperature even higher.
Magneto then screamed in pain as his skin started to blister from the extream heat. Finally the Evil Mutant could take it anymore and he collapsed to the ground unconscious.
NRG then ceased his attack and tapped the Ultimatrix once more. "BIG CHILL!"
The moth alien then breathed a cold wave of ice over the area to cool it down. The ice hissed as it came into contact with the boiling metal. Big Chill knew he had to cool this place down fast. While it was an effective strategy, he knew that exposure to these kinds of temperatures would be bad for anyone's health, mutant or not. While he knew that this man was a despicable being, he was not just gonna let him die.
Once he was able to drop the temperature down to a reasonable level. Big Chill turned to face the unconscious villain. He knew villains like this, evil conquers that didn't care for anyone but themselves and didn't care how many lives they sacrificed to get what they want. He may have come here for a different villain, but while he was here he might as well put another one behind bars.
But just as the Alien Hero reached down to apprehend the villain. A scream sounded out behind him.
"FATHER!"
Before he knew what hit him, a large piece of metal slammed into Big Chill, knocking him away from the unconscious villain. The moth alien groaned as he rubbed his head. He turned to see where his attacker was and his eyes widened in shock.
A girl, no older than fourteen; with light green hair and eyes, wearing a green long sleeved top that exposed her midriff, long green pants and a green bits of fabric that joined to her wrists and back, came running towards the unconscious Magneto with tears running down her eyes.
The girl dropped down to her knees and placed the elderly mutants head on her lap, removing his helmet as she did so. Once she saw his slightly burnt face, the girl gasped in horror as she tried to awaken him.
"Father! Father please, wake up, wake up!" She begged, tears running down her cheek.
At that moment Big Chill felt as if a knife had been shoved into his stomach. The man he had initially believed to be a heartless monster, was a father. He didn't know what to think at this point, his mind void of any clear though as his felt the gravity of the situation crush him.
What made the situation worse, was when the girl looked at him; he saw nothing but fear in her eyes. Fear of him.
To her, he was not the hero that took down a dangerous villain. He was the monster who attack and beat her father into submission. At that moment, he was nothing more than a monster.
He was just like Him.
"P-Please." The Green Haired girl said as she cradled her unconscious fathers head in her arms. "D-Don't hurt us."
Big Chill felt his entire world shatter at seeing the sweet young girl so terrified of him. He slowly raised his hand as he took a tentative step towards the girl.
"I promise I wont hurt you." He said in a soft kind tone.
But despite his promise, the girl flinched as he approached her and buried her head into her fathers chest, whimpering and sobbing at the Aliens Avengers advances.
"P-Please… Go a-away." She begged, blubbering the words.
"I can help." Big Chill offered. "I have powers that can make him better. If you just…."
"GO AWAY!" The girl suddenly screamed, unleashing a wave of magnetic energy that caused the metal around her and Magneto to sprout deadly blades and spikes, creating a deadly wall to protect them from the monster.
The scream echoed in Big Chills ear, all the fear, all the hate, all the pain, it cut through him like blade. The Alien Hero felt nothing but guilt and sorrow for what he did to the young girl. And he knew that nothing he could do now, would ever make up for what he had done.
The reason for him being there in the first place, vanished from his mind. Big Chill unfolded his wings and flew into the air, phasing through the ceiling and out to the castle to meet up with the X-Men. His mind in turmoil from the pain he just caused.
After rendezvousing with the X-Men just outside the boarders of Genoshia. The group was very interested to hear how Ben handled himself around Magneto. However they were surprised to see Ben in such a shell-shocked state, and how the teen hero expressed no interest in talking about what happened or going after Whirlwind anymore. So reluctantly the group headed back to the Institute.
Once they arrived, Wolverine and the others went to tell everyone what happened. Petra ran up to see Ben and asked him how it went. But the Alien Teen brushed off the little girl, leaving her sad and confused. Ben then made his way to the break room and sat down at one of the tables, staring at nothing.
He wasn't sure how long he was sitting there, nor did he notice the door sliding open and someone entering the room. Suddenly a cup of water was placed in front of him and Ben slowly looked up to see Wolverine standing over him, with a coffee cup in his hand. But this time, the gruff mutant had his cowl removed, showing his dark shaggy hair and sideburns.
"This seat taken?" The Clawed Mutant asked, gesturing to the empty chair opposite Ben. The teen hero shrugged his shoulders, so Wolverine took it as a yes and sat down. The gruff man, looked at the teen for a few minutes, not saying a word.
Eventually, Ben looked up and met the man's eyes. "Is this the part where you ask me what happened?"
"Actually Frost already told me. She explained through some psychic mumbo jumbo that you where having a lot of dark thought and she picked up on them and pieced it together and told me."
Ben grunted and rolled his eyes. "Sure she did, cause boundaries don't exist in this world." He snarked in response.
Wolverine grunted in agreement. "Yeah the woman doesn't appear to have any. I don't trust her one bit."
"So why keep her around?" Ben asked.
"Cause whether I like it or not. We need her." He responded. He then took a sip of his coffee. "You saw his daughter after you beat him, didn't you?" he said, referring to Bens fight with Magneto.
Ben once again felt the stinging sensation that came with the memory of the incident, but nodded.
Wolverine sighed as he put his cup down. "Look kid, I'm not gonna sugar coat this. The world ain't as black and white as you think it is. There's a tone of grey in the middle. Sometimes it's hard to tell which is which in that fog. Sometimes, you do things you regret and will keep regretting until your dyin day." He paused for a second and looked Ben in the eyes with steely determination. "But you can't let stuff like that mess with your head. Cause you still have a job to do, and sittin around sulkin ain't gonna undo what happened. So you can either sit here all day like a punk. Or you can get up, brush yourself off and keep fighting. Cause let me tell ya, bub. Only you can tell yourself who you are."
Those words resonated in Bens' mind. Sure in Bens' mind, what he did was horrible. But in the end he still defeated a villain that was going to hurt one of his friends. So in reality he did do the right thing, he stopped a villain from hurting someone, he was still Ben 10. A Hero.
The teen hero gave the gruff man a small smile. "Thanks Wolverine."
Wolverine then waved it off. "Ah don't get all sappy on me now ET." He said in a mock harsh tone. "And call me Logan, we ain't in the field."
Ben smirked at the mutant. "Sure."
Wolverine then raised his cup and Ben grabbed his cup and taped it against in a toast. They then proceeded to drink their respected beverage.
Once they finished, Logan cleared his throat and glanced at the teen. "So. You took down Magneto huh?"
"Yeah, you were right. That guy is tough. But nowhere near as powerful as some of the other big bads I've faced.
"That so?" Logan asked.
"Yep"
Logan then smirked as he leaned in. "Well then, how about we see how you go against me?"
Ben raised his eyebrow at the challenge. "Seriously?"
"Why not?" Logan simply responded. "You claim to be such a big shot, and taking down Magneto proves you're no pushover. So how about a little sparing match to see if you're as good as you say you are."
Ben smirked as he leaned over the table. "You really think you can take me, Wildman"
In response, Logan then leaned in and met the Teens confidence in full. "Let me tell you something, Bub. I'm the best there is at what I do. But what I do isn't very nice."
Ben felt a shiver go down his spin. That was an awesome line. But his cocky expression did not faltered. "Ok then. Lets do this."
A few minutes later, both Ben and Wolverine were standing in the Danger Room, a training room for the X-Men. While the room usually has a series of traps and weapons used to help train the students, today it was just a battlefield for two heavy hitters.
Up in the observation deck of the training room, all the X-men where standing behind the safety glass to watch the fight. Even Little Petra was jumping up and down in excitement; earlier Ben had found the young mutant and apologized to her for acting so cold. It didn't take much for her to forgive him. Though she did make a stream of water from a nearby tap blast him in the face for making her feel bad. But the two laughed about it and made up.
Now the Alien Avenger was staring down his opponent like a dual in a western. Suddenly Kitty's voice sounded on the intercom, signaling to start.
Immediately Wolverine unsheathed his claws and let out a mighty battle cry as he charged towards the teen. Ben in response ran at the Clawed Mutant, activating the Ultimatrix as he did. The X-Man and Avenger quickly closed the gap as Ben finally found the Alien he wanted.
"Its Hero time."
Ben then slammed down the dial and a bright green light filled the room and he collided with Wolverine.
There you have it folks. Your favourite group of Mutants have finally made their debut. Not gonna lie, this chapter was a real pain to write. Don't know why, but my heart wasn't in this one. And that sucks cause Wolverine is my favourite X-Men. Either way, Im glad I was able to finish this one.
Now if your wondering about the new character, Petra. She's my first OC and her powers are Hydrokinesis. She is based on a very special little girl and if she's reading this "This is my gift to you."
Next on Avenging 10, You now know my favourite X-Man is Wolverine. Now you're going to meet my second favourite.
Until next time. CaptainRex75 Out!