"Where the hell did I get dropped off—am I even still in my country?"
Ben Tennyson stumbled off the bus, still groggy from sleep, and found himself standing at a strange intersection, staring around in a daze.
Night had already fallen. The wet asphalt looked like shattered glass, reflecting the sickly yellow streetlights and the ominous silhouettes of looming skyscrapers.
A few kids tore down the sidewalk. When they bumped into a passerby, they didn't even apologize. While the man was busy shouting at them, one of the kids casually lifted a wallet from his back pocket.
Before Ben could step in, a thief in a leather jacket darted across the street, yanked a woman's handbag away, and bolted.
Hearing her scream for help—and watching the thief vanish into an alley, swallowed by shadow—Ben couldn't help but mutter in disbelief.
"How is this place this messed up? And why are there foreigners everywhere? Did my bus crash into some kind of cosmic jackpot while I was asleep?"
He'd just come out of a convention, still wearing a cosplay of his favorite character with the same name. He never imagined that dozing off on a bus for a few minutes would land him in this nightmare.
Then something on a shop window TV caught his eye.
"New developments in the recent wave of mass kidnappings sweeping Gotham City. The culprit is suspected to be the rumored Batman. Viewer discretion advised—the following footage may not be suitable for younger audiences."
On the screen, a caped black silhouette flashed through the frame. In just a few seconds, the figure snatched someone withdrawing cash at an ATM—and vanished.
"Gotham City… Batman? I really got isekai'd?! But why DC? This universe is way too dark!"
Ben knew the criminal in the report couldn't possibly be Batman—but that didn't make Gotham safe. Not even close.
And the truly hopeless part? Even if he escaped Gotham, the entire DC world was still a disaster waiting to happen. Once you got dragged into a major event, nobody stayed uninvolved.
"Wait—why do I look… off?"
In a moment of disorientation, Ben caught his reflection in the glass. His cosplay somehow looked more real—too real.
He scratched at his hair hard. The brown wig was gone. It was real hair now. His eyes—he'd been wearing colored contacts—had turned a vivid green.
"…Did I actually become Ben Tennyson? Then what about the toy watch on my wrist—don't tell me…"
He grabbed the beat-up little watch and yanked. Hard.
It didn't budge. No matter what he did, it wouldn't come off.
Heart pounding, he pressed the switch on the "crappy little watch" strapped to his wrist.
The dial popped up. Green light pulsed. The hourglass emblem's frame shifted and interlocked into a diamond shape. As he rotated the dial, silhouettes of ten alien heroes flickered and swapped in rapid succession.
"Wildmutt… Diamondhead… Heatblast… XLR8… Four Arms… Ripjaws… Grey Matter… Ghostfreak…"
Staring at those shapes, Ben realized the hollow-shell prop on his wrist had become the real deal—an authentic Omnitrix, straight from Azmuth's workshop.
"No way… YES! It's the Omnitrix!"
The Omnitrix—also known from Ben 10—was a level-20 piece of alien technology created by Azmuth, a Galvan. Its purpose was to promote understanding between civilizations, break down species barriers, and act as a "genetic ark" to preserve the DNA of endangered alien species.
The initial Omnitrix only unlocked ten aliens. As for the remaining million forms… Ben could only hope that, as Grey Matter, he might eventually crack the device's master control.
On top of that, if the Omnitrix came into contact with a sapient creature's DNA sample, it could scan and add that species—granting Ben the ability to transform into them.
Which meant his first priority was obvious: get out of this hellhole called Gotham, go to Metropolis, find a reporter named Clark Kent at the Daily Planet—and "accidentally" bump the Omnitrix against him to scan Kryptonian DNA.
The streets of Gotham were loud, filthy, and chaotic. Ben had no clue where the city's protector—Batman—had gone. He turned and slipped into an empty alley, preparing to transform.
If he was heading for Metropolis, he needed speed.
He rotated the dial to XLR8's silhouette and carefully slammed the Omnitrix core.
"Hero time!!!"
Green light burst out. Ben's body rewrote itself from the DNA up—muscle swelling from his wrist and spreading across his frame.
His skin hardened. A sleek black helmet formed over his head. His body shifted into a black-and-blue streamlined build, and the Omnitrix emblem relocated to his chest.
His hands became claws. A tail snapped into place. His legs reshaped like a raptor's—and two black wheel-like rollers appeared beneath his feet.
In the blink of an eye, the transformation was complete. Ben threw his head back and shouted the alien's name with pure exhilaration.
"XLR8!"
Before leaving the city, he wanted to test the speed—get used to how his new body moved.
He lowered the helmet visor and shot out of the alley like a blue-black lightning bolt.
In the show, ten-year-old Ben's XLR8 could hit three hundred miles per hour. As an adult, he could patrol the entire planet in seconds.
Ben was fifteen—nowhere near the adult version in experience or control. Still, beating what ten-year-old Ben could do?
That felt achievable.
He snatched up the wallet the kids had tossed near a trash can—cash gone, only IDs left—and slipped it back into the victim's hand.
He was so fast the man only felt a gust of wind—then suddenly the wallet was there.
As XLR8, Ben felt like the whole world had been put on slow motion.
"Now I just need a Quicksilver soundtrack… mm-hmm—sweet dreams are made of this…"
Humming to himself, Ben zipped through several alleys in an instant and spotted the same thief rummaging through the stolen handbag.
Before the guy could even react, Ben casually tapped him with one light kick—sending him tumbling straight into a giant dumpster.
He caught the handbag midair before it even hit the ground and raced it back to the woman, placing it into her hands like nothing had happened.
Easy. A quick cleanup of a street crime—one less headache for Batman and the GCPD.
After getting a feel for XLR8's speed and reflexes, Ben followed Gotham's roads and kicked it into full throttle.
Now… it was time to get the hell out of this place.
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 50)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 50)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 50)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League (Chapter 44)
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