Chapter 30: Recovery

"Prime" Earth.

South Dakota, Omnitrix City; February 6th, 2018; 6:08AM

Rook crossed his arms, staying on his mission was how he coped with any negative emotion or situation, throwing himself into his work was the best he could do, "So, how do we go about stopping this Prometheus for good? Without a direct confrontation to minimalize casualties," he glanced around for any ideas until Lucy raised her hand as if they were still in grade-school.

"Ooh, Ooh!" she giddily raised her hand until Gwendolyn picked her audibly.

"Yes, Lucy?" Gwendolyn said with an eyeroll.

The Lenopan held her hands behind her back, looking up and out into the corner of the room, clearly deep in pensive thought, "If Coop made the replicas of the dimensional shifter, maybe he could make a device to block the dimensional frequency permanently, keeping him from breaching into our Earth?"

Her idea was solid but, Cooper still needed at least three- or four-hours rest before they could run the idea by him, Gwendolyn nodded, "That might work… maybe, we'll ask Cooper," instead of standing still, she swayed over slowly to the med-bay where her unconscious fiancé-to-be laid flat and unconscious. Another half hour later and Julie prepared a stretcher for the body bag carrying the unfortunate corpse of Gwen Ten, having Rook and Lucy help load her onto the stretcher, a thick tension of silence swallowed the room, tears still slipping down Gwendolyn's cheeks trying to keep herself composed. He didn't smell amazing as she approached, and he'd certainly looked better but, she couldn't help but kneel and place her right ear on his chest, leaning against the cot.

Gwendolyn listened to the rhythmic thumping of Ben's heart, she would never get tired of hearing it, his warm skin against her face, just knowing that it was his heart and that it was beating calmed her nerves.

Always having found herself lulled by his heartbeat but, it was all getting to her too fast, the stress, the pressure, she had no idea how he did it all. She wept into his shoulder, "I can't do this without you…" she whispered to herself. As though her inner prayers had come true, it was then that she heard a skip in his heartbeat and a hand gently running their fingers through her hair.

"H-Hey," he managed to say with a rough voice, being raspy from lack of hydration, starvation, and severe malnourishment.

Her head popped up to look him in the eyes, "You're awake so soon," Gwendolyn was almost questioning a miracle but never looked the gift-horse in the mouth, so she just wrapped her arms around his neck and embraced him tighter, "Yes!" she announced.

Ben raised a brow, attempting to sit up slowly, "Yes to what, exactly?" he muttered in confusion as he shook his head, still feeling weak from his time with his kidnapper, he held the back of his head a bit disoriented.

Gwendolyn raised her left hand showing off that she'd found the stunning diamond-ring he bought her wrapped firmly around her fourth finger, "Yes, I'll marry you, doofus!" she punched his arm lightly, tears beginning to well in her eyes again, "I spent a week without you, and it felt like… I had a hole in my heart. I never want to feel that way again, I want to spend the rest of my life with you…" her tears choked her up a bit especially due to fulfilling the promise she gave to Gwen, whom he didn't even know was murdered in cold-blood yet.

Ben sighed disappointedly, reaching up now to his forehead where a nasty migraine was brewing, "You weren't supposed to find out like this, it was supposed to be special… not like-" she cut him off by pressing her lips against his, luckily enough of his enhanced healing had ridden him of the busted lip. She slid her tongue into his mouth just for a moment, pulling back and softly biting his lip as she did. Reassuring him that she wasn't at all disappointed or otherwise unhappy.

"I don't care what we're doing, where we are, or who gets in our way; we're Ben and Gwen, nothing can stop that. I love you, and the fact that you had this planned all along?" She scoffed and placed her hands gently on his shoulders, looking deep into his eyes, "You were planning this while running the hero operation, delegating with the United Nations, building an entire city for interstellar peace, and fighting a Multiversal serial killer… all at the same time, and you still made time for this… for me," she pulled her hand back, showing off her glistening ring once again, which she would never get over now that they were officially engaged. "That just proves how serious you are about it, and words cant express how much that means to me." Gwendolyn was lost in the moment, leaning into him for a warm embrace, forgetting to mind his injuries as she wrapped him in a hug.

"Agh!" He shouted loudly as he pulled his stitches, still lightheaded, the room began to spin forcing him to close his eyes, "Okay, that's amazing news, I love you too, marriage is great… fucking oww…" he laid back down quickly as even his super-human abilities couldn't keep this pain away, and the scars would start to form soon. Without the adrenaline pumping through his system, the injuries were starting to catch up to him. He fell unconscious again within a few seconds, Gwendolyn keeping an eye on him as she giggled lightly at his response, she was sure he'd be more ecstatic once he wasn't nearly dead.

…

After passing out on the cot with Gwendolyn sitting at his side, they waited for about three to four hours but, spite his vitals being stable, he was simply comatose. Being the ever-attentive mage that she was, Gwendolyn soon noticed an emerald glow almost humming from around the corner from where she had been pacing anxiously. Turning the corner, she peaked into the room only to find the Omnitrix wrapped around Ben's forearm glowing, with a heavenly aura shrouding his body.

Gwendolyn called Cooper since she figured she'd a more technical second opinion on his condition; Julie returned to her quarters within the tower as Gwen showed Lucy and Rook to their individual rooms juxtaposed to one another. She insisted they get sleep and that she could take care of everything, Lucy almost begged to stay and watch over him with her but, she needed time to process it all herself.

Gwendolyn rose to level fifty-five in the silent elevator, the look in her counterpart's eyes as the light dimmed, the horrified expression on her face when the blade pierced her back. She couldn't shake it, as the doors dinged, she walked through and noticed a cleaning crew mopping up blood and stains of blood from the walls and floor. They, much like Julie, were being more than compensated for their discretion without even needing to sign a non-disclosure agreement.

Nobody spoke, they did their jobs as Gwen walked casually through the room, walking passed the spot that was cleaned already but still represented Kevin being executed by Prometheus in front of her. His expression was more furious than afraid, but she could feel his fear however tough he appeared to be on the outside, he terrified of death.

Gwendolyn walked into the med-bay area of the command center and watched her fiancé glowing with emerald energy, closing the door behind her, she pulled up a chair next to his bed, and laid her head softly on his pectoral muscle, listening to the beating of his heart. Having been lulled by it since she was fourteen and having been awake planning and fighting for over twenty-four hours, she soon slipped deeply into a much-needed rest.

…

Taking an hour-long nap atop Ben's chest, Gwendolyn was startled awake by the dinging of the elevator that split open, and spat out the technopath, Cooper. She sat up and stretched before standing, looking over Ben she realized he was still in the same condition he was in when she fell asleep. Her eyes darted at him through the glass as he approached the room, slipping on a coat over his outfit on his way to the med-bay.

Cooper rushed to her side with a white lab-coat over a casual tee; having gotten some rest, a shower, and a shave, he didn't waste a single moment to make his way to Tennyson Tower as soon as she'd called him and updated him on how their plan had gone. "What do you see?" she asked immediately, clearly referring to his technorganic eyes, which could read through different spectrums of light and energy, as well as connect directly to powerful signals, like something the Omnitrix would give off.

"Extraordinary," he exclaimed as he took steps into the room, approaching the Omnitrix, kneeling down to look at it on eye level, "He's healing himself…" as the picoseconds passed, Cooper ran simulations in his hyper-intelligent mind, "No… that's not it, Ben has mental control over the Omnimatrix via its Master Control function."

Gwendolyn folded her arms and scoffed, "Well, duh?" as she didn't seem to understand the relevancy, he further clarified.

"Ben isn't conscious, I can see his brain-waves almost like a MRI scan; he isn't just unconscious, he's… for lack of a better term, completely comatose…" Cooper stood back up and pulled on the end of his coat, tightening it a bit, "Based on the data we know about the watch and it's connection to him…" he paused looking back at him once more, narrowing his eyes, "It's possible that the Omnitrix is healing him of its own volition but, that would mean…" he turned to give pause as she made eye contact with him.

Gwendolyn raised both brows in awe, catching up quickly enough, "I-It's alive?"

Cooper turned around and grabbed Ben by the forearm, pulling him up spite his injuries, he scanned the Omnitrix deeper finding inscriptions in Galvan that he didn't bother to translate; as he sifted through the complex masterpiece of technology, he realized something, "No… Not alive, sentient maybe. It is possible that once he unlocked the secrets of the watch, the unintentional bond to his DNA Albedo caused has become more complete than even I could have calculated."

Gwendolyn blinked a few times out of confusion, glancing back to the glowing young man, "What does that mean?" she asked as kindly as possible, having changed out of her suit, she sported a baby-blue blouse and denim jeans, wearing the Alpha Rune around her neck, "I don't understand. Is he going to be okay?" tears almost welled in her eyes again but, she choked them down quickly enough.

Cooper chuckled, shaking his head, he grabbed her hands in his with a grin, "You've got it all wrong, this is a very good thing; the capacity limiter is keeping any excess DNA from leaking into his system but, what was already in his blood before is still inside of him," taking a glance back at the calm, peaceful emerald, green aura that enveloped him, she took a few steps forwards as Cooper allowed her hands to slip away, "The Omnimatrix has a failsafe installed, it's supposed to shift through catalogued species DNA until one survives whatever is doing lethal damage to its host but, because of the bonding, its programming is using that excess omni-energy to keep him alive." Cooper continued to think pensively on the topic and how it would affect them, once again running simulations within the time it took for her to blink twice, "So, we're lucky we got the capacitor in when we did; the typical flight, enhanced strength and speed thing, plus the heat vision? It could have gotten way… worse." Cooper frowned, just realizing something a tad morbid, "Oh, man…" he looked away as the blue energy in his pupils faded, the circuitry running lines through his octave nerves around the iris vanished, "The bond is permanent, we knew that but, now that the energy is part of his human body too… if his Omnitrix is ever destroyed…" glancing down at the comatose hero simultaneously, they refocused their attention on the glowing watch.

"Ben dies with it," Gwen muttered under her breath, lifting her right hand to start biting her nails; thinking to shift her focus back to the mission, she counted the healing factor as a blessing and moved on, "How are we on the plan?"

"Lucy's? It could have worked… if Prometheus had left this dimension," he guided her out of the room, they both walked side by side toward the freshly fixed holo-deck, swiping at the advanced glassware summoned a holographic map of North America, "I was going to tell you as soon as I made sure Ben was alright, and since he is… relatively speaking… I mean he's still totally out of comissi-"

"Coop, I really need you're A-Game here; you are currently the smartest man on the planet, and I need every braincell to track that son of a bitch down," Gwen was obviously angry, the glare across her usually serine expression and her demeanor was crystal clear. He knew she wasn't angry with him, merely frustrated, so he complied.

"Right, sorry!" Cooper exclaimed, jumping into his control chair, he typed codes into the software manually, as the global projection narrowed down to a single town in New York, "This has been on the news all morning…" he brought up a news clip of Rush, the speedster that made XLR8 look like he was moving in slow motion, dashing through out the town, starting massive fires, and killing as he pleased. Using raw speed to decapitate a team of police officers faster than the framerate of the news camera could perceive.

She recognized the area and the streets he rampaged through, "That's Bellwood! He's a dead man!" Gwen shouted furiously as she turned around, a metaphysical aura of her own encompassing her body, the loss of her own counterpart still raging within, watching herself die… it fueled her anger, turning on her heels prepared to teleport through to the city. The aura shook the entire building slightly, Cooper's extensive vision could see her metaphysical energy billowing out like bright blue flames encompassing the entire room.

Cooper shouted out to her before she took another step, "Exactly, Gwendolyn, he has nothing else to loose… and only one thing to gain," they both once again glanced simultaneously at the med-bay illuminated by the out of sight glowing hero. Ben lying helplessly in his aura induced healing coma, "If you face him now, you'll die, even if we all faced him at once… without Gwen or Ben, we can't-" his eyes lit up blue with a light energy cascading through the circuitry of his neurons connecting his mind to the entire building and every single piece of technology within its confines.

"Can't what?" Gwendolyn asked with a curious tone, turning to look Cooper in the eyes, slapping his shoulder, "Earth to nerd, what's going through that big head of yours?" she begged for answers, and he had them already but, he was processing the far more difficult issue for him. How could he explain it? Emotions were so much more complex than data and technology, it's likely why he never had many friends growing up and the ones he had, he kept close.

Cooper only muttered as he continued to stare at Ben, "Ten trillion exabytes of data per second…" he stated as a fact.

"What?"

"That's how much information my brain can process at any given moment… I have an idea but, I'm not sure it's ethically appropriate," he let his sentence linger as he turned to face Gwendolyn for the first time in the last several minutes, "Prometheus used other Omnitrix cores to boost his transformation's powers, the only reason he's so fucked in the head is because he's overdosing." Just the word sent shivers down her spine and memories of being in the hospital for days flashed in her mind, she sighed audibly.

Ignoring the word he used, she just gave him a confused look, "How is that possible or even relevant? We knew he was dying already."

Cooper gave a scoff, folding his arms across his chest once again, "Question one, his body has finite limits, but the Antitrix doesn't… so the dozens of watches he's absorbed overwhelmed those human limits," giving out a long sigh of desperation, he placed both hands on the cool silver railing around the holodeck, "Prometheus had the right idea in the short term, amping himself with a single unused Omnitrix core is totally possible, even risk free, if done properly. The mistake he made though was his mental state, he clearly enjoyed the hunt, its likely his evil nature made him… power hungry."

Cooper didn't see her respond in any way, so he continued, "The energy is only going to enhance what he already has, think of it this way… the omni-energy amplifies what was already inside. Good becomes great…" he paused as he turned his head to see the news footage through the glass between him and the holodeck, "Bad becomes worse." Crystalfist was on live television lifting a bank transport truck off its wheels and tossing it a good distance away but, ensured not to hit any filming crew members. He wanted the audience. The video panned over towards the barely escaping drivers as the truck caught fire.

Gwendolyn turned around and narrowed her eyes, "You're thinking of-" she realized that it was exactly what he was implying, there was still one unused active Omnitrix core in the building's morgue. Gwen only starred off at the glowing room behind them, biting at her nails again, she couldn't make a critical decision like this without him, it wouldn't be right, or at least that's how it felt.

"I know it sounds a little bad but, it'll make him stronger and faster, possibly powerful enough to stop… that," he zoomed in on and pointed back at the holographic footage of the terror in the streets of Bellwood, riots were starting to break out, Prometheus raging through one twisted transformation to the next. Quadsmash took several shotgun rounds to the chest from Bellwood S.W.A.T and Plumber's were being dispatched as they spoke. This was live on the news, out in the open, where anyone could see the ensuing chaos; a flash of crimson sent flames out into the crowd of geared men, his Pyronite form roasted the police alive before they were ordered to retreat by the National Guard minutes later.

"And can you guarantee he won't turn into him?" she nodded her chin up at the news footage as their conversation took precedence over their attention.

Cooper laughed at the notion, looking Gwendolyn in the eyes again, "You and I know Ben better than anyone else right now, do you really think that just one power boost would change him? He'd still be the man you love; reckless, brash and stubborn… it'll be like that only with bigger messes to clean up," equating him to a child, he chuckled which managed to make Gwen laugh a bit, finding that a smile looked far better on her face than tears with a frown.

"No, you're right, but what about removing the watch from… me?" she pointed downward towards their storage coolers that were outfitted as a temporary morgue, for scenarios like this one. Kai's body was taken by Wes back to New Mexico where his family could bury her and celebrate her life. Kevin and now Gwendolyn's doppelgänger were the only residents, being that it was only there to preserve their bodies for a simple day or two. "We don't need to rip it off like Kevin did that one time in the Null Void, do we?" reflecting on the only other ways she's seen the watch removed before as she recalled the screams of agony that machine the mutated Kevin used brought out of Ben as he had it torn off by force.

Cooper raised his brow at her, mentally triggering the holograms behind her to mute the news and flip to a scan of the Omnitrix bonded to Gwen's forearm. His ability to manipulate technology without even a gesture still impressed her to no end, "I have no idea what you're talking about but, there's not going to be any ripping… her core doesn't even have its locking function on, I just need to pop it out."

"That's a relief…" Gwendolyn exhaled with relief.

…

Ben woke suddenly, floating in a void of darkness that was expansive like space but lacking in stars or celestial bodies of any kind, he didn't feel any trouble breathing either. Quickly surmising that this wasn't outer space, he immediately assumed he was dreaming. Though it felt incredibly surreal, he simply floated around aimlessly, hearing the voices that echoed outside of his physical body. It could have been hours or even days, he wasn't completely sure how long he'd been in this state but, he also wasn't entirely concerned with returning to consciousness.

He knew Cooper wouldn't consider anything this dangerous unless he was sure it would work, he gave the idea of amping his own Omnitrix with Gwendolyn's doppelganger's core some thought as he continued to drift off. He couldn't see his own body, though he felt his consciousness still existing in one form or another; his essence was still intact during this… whatever this was.

It was completely aimless until he noticed something approaching, he had no defenses, no body or Omnitrix, he was just a floating mass of energy. Then again, the entity that approached wasn't exactly physically inclined either; as it grew closer Ben could see it more clearly. It was a glowing mass of emerald energy in a female humanoid form, its body was composed entirely of bright green flames.

"It's an honor to finally meet you face to well… I'm sure you know what I mean," the figure floated down as Ben realized he didn't have a face at the moment, he realized what she meant, "We are currently on the border between your conscious and subconscious mind," the voice was feminine as well, though not familiar to him at all, it was almost angelic as it echoed through the void.

"Who are you?"

The entity glanced around at the void with searing white sockets which seemed to act as her eyes, she returned her focus to Ben spite not having a physical form, she could still see him. Somehow. It was definitely an odd experience to say the least, "I am the artificial intelligence that dwells within the Omnimatrix, you and I are bonded by our very DNA," she seemed awfully nice, almost cheerful but, still a bit stoic about the situation.

"Azmuth never mentioned you, or anything like this…" Ben attempted to look down at his hands and found they weren't there, he couldn't get over how vivid this experience was.

The entity huffed a bit sadly, the first sign of emotion he'd seen from her aside from her happy exposition, "He forged the omni-energy that powers me and gives me life from the energy of an exploding star, he never intended me to gain sentience and once I had, he didn't seem to care…" seeming genuinely distraught at the idea that her own creator thought so little of her.

"I'm sorry about that, he's changed a lot since he created you though, he even helped me transport Galvan materials to Earth with his teleporter… Earth…" he started to remember everything that was going on outside of this mental conversation, "If we're in my head what's happening outside?"

Ben couldn't hear the voices anymore, they'd either left the room or something else…

"You've been unconscious for nearly two days, when you aren't experiencing anything at all, time seems more relative…" the entity looked up into the void, "I believe the connection we've made here is due to an excess amount of energy being connected to me."

"Days?!"

"Only two."

Ben was starting to get nervous but, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't force himself awake by any means; he knew sometimes dreams worked that way, so it was worth a try, "C'mon, c'mon!"

Circling around him in a floating dance, the entity narrowed its blazing slits for eyes, "What are you doing?"

Ben would have sighed if he had lungs but, instead he simply stopped trying to concentrate on awakening and responded, "Trying to wake up… they must have run out of options if they infused Gwen's core with my Omnitrix… or my… you?"

The entity gave a cheerful smile, it was obvious that she was happy to be talking to anyone, "Accurate," she confirmed.

"But you aren't an object… you're a sentient energy… thing," Ben tried his best to describe her, able to see her entire body flowing with emerald flames that lit up the void as its only source of light, "Doesn't it get lonely in here by yourself?"

Once again, she turned and floated in another direction only to begin circling him again, Ben was beyond confused but, listened to her response anyways, "I had a guest… once, he was determined to get out of here and when he finally did, I never saw him again. He wasn't very nice either."

"That must have been Zs'skayer, trust me he's not good company," Ben responded quickly taking context clues into account, "Wait, how did he get out in the first place?"

"His species has unnatural possession abilities, I was in stasis for such a long time, you had just bonded with me… I wasn't sure what to do," seeming honestly ashamed, she turned to face him, "He leaked nightmares into your dreams and started possessing your transformations until he was able to escape in his ethereal form."

Ben remained calm, after all it was quite a long time ago, "It's fine, I took care of him…" as he examined the figure of the mass of energy floating in front of him, "You're starting to look familiar, which is kind of weird since I don't have eyes…"

"The sedatives are wearing off, your mind and body are coming to, I assume whatever form your seeing is a result of the person closest to your heart," it wasn't long before Ben noticed it as the dark void slowly leaked white and he looked down finding his body completely intact again.

He glanced up and noticed Gwendolyn, only she was completely naked and on fire, the emerald blaze coating her every muscle and limb. The entity raised her brow, now visible to him instead of just a mass of fire, "I never get to see anything that goes on outside, is this form suitable?" she asked innocently.

Ben's face was heating up, his cheeks turning bright red as he looked away, "You wouldn't happen to be able to manifest clothes, would you?"

"I would ask you the same question," it sounded like a sarcastic response, but her stoic tone told him she was serious, as his focus became clearer, he could tell that too was completely naked in this dark void slowly dripping with white energy.

Ben didn't bother to cover himself, possibly because he knew this was all happening within his own mind or maybe because she looked so much like Gwendolyn that he didn't mind the exposure. Either way, he continued the conversation as he could feel his time with her nearing its end somehow.

"You're about to wake up now but, I want you to know that I'll always be here to protect you," the dimming emerald figure placed what looked to be its hand on his nonexistent shoulder.

Ben took her arm off his shoulder and frowned, "Wait, don't you want to be free too? If Azmuth didn't mean for you to become sentient, then maybe-" he was cut off by her light chuckle.

"Humans can be quite silly, when I bonded to my first host, to you, it gave me purpose. I exist to make sure you stay alive at all costs," she responded with a nonchalant attitude, it was more of a motherly tone than anything else, "You and I are now one, we may not be able to speak regularly but, I take pride in knowing you'll be safe so long as I'm here…"

As his conscious began to rise to the forefront of his mind, he reached out to her as she began to fade away, "Wait, I don't even know your name!?"

"I've… never had a name, I am designated Omnimatrix Prototype One," she responded with nothing, but her upper body left in the dissipating smoke of her form.

Ben didn't have much time to think yet, he didn't hesitate to snap his fingers, "I know, I'll call you Trix!" he declared.

She smiled as the rest of her flaming body swam into the white void and dissipated, letting out a giggle before it did, "Humans can be so silly…" she echoed for the last time.

…

South Dakota, Omnitrix City; February 8th, 2018; 12:08PM

Ben's eyes snapped open, gasping as he sat up in a startled shock, he was lying face up on an operation table in nothing but spandex briefs. Shaking his head he immediately noticed the nodes attached to his chest, with wires leading out from his Omnitrix through to a smaller table opposite to him.

"Trix?" he called out as his eyes adjusted to the light of the sterile medical room, he looked down at the table and realized there were latches meant to keep him pinned, snapped off by raw strength. Was that him? His head was starting to spin a bit, looking over at the generator he was plugged into, which was subsequently connected to a dimmed blue Omnitrix core which had its dial turned nearly completely grey, a light shade of pink over it, "Gwen?" he called out again as he realized he was alone in the room, he let out an audible sigh.

He tore the nodes off his chest, pulling the wires from his gauntlet with a tug of his arm, he was going to stand but, his ankles were strapped down by the same type of clamping mechanism only they hadn't been snapped yet. "Cooper?" he still received no response, there was a glass window between the room he was in and the hall outside. He didn't even remember having this part of the tower put in, one way glass, for what? "Okay, if no one is gonna stop me, I'm just going to have to tear these super high-tech things off my legs…" he announced it but, still received no response, "Ugh, now I actually have to do it…"

"What is your name?"

A filtered voice came through the speaker embedded in the ceiling from some sort of PA system, Ben raised his brow at the glass and looked around, "Who's that? I'm still in my Tower, right?" he reached for the ankle restraint before the voice cut him off.

"What is your name?" the male voice repeated.

He was beginning to get aggravated, "Ben Tennyson, happy?" he placed his hands on his lap as he shrugged at the two-way glass, "The hell is this, twenty-questions? I have a job to do, pal so if you could just tell me what's going-"

He was once again interrupted by the voice prompting over the loudspeaker, "What is the day of your birth?"

"You like playing games? Fine, December twenty-seventh," he responded, folding his arms instead of reaching for the clamps still latched to his ankles.

"Who was the first person you fell in love with?"

Ben rolled his eyes and fell back lying on the examination table, "Gwendolyn Tennyson," he was so confused, he was just answering the questions as they came for the sake of whatever this was. He knew they used the energy from the alternate Gwen's core to amp him but, now he was totally stumped, they were dumb questions that felt so obvious.

"What did Prometheus do to you while you were his prisoner?"

Ben sighed even louder, refusing to sit up any longer, he stared at the ceiling as the memories came flooding back, "I was strung up and beaten to near death for the first three days, then he started…" he paused closing his eyes, remembering the gruesome scene spilling literally out onto the floor in front of him.

"Answer the question, please," the male voice was very polite but, Ben wasn't having it either way.

Reluctantly he responded with an irritated answer, "Prometheus brought in different versions of my loved ones, and started killing them in front of me," he was half a second from shedding a tear when the voice seemed unphased by his response.

"Who was the first person you killed?"

Ben's eyes snapped open again, this time totally encompassed by glimmering emerald light, he snapped the restraints by just kicking the air in front of him. Sending each one flying into the ceiling, he sat up and slowly picked himself off the table though his feet never touched the ground, "I have a better idea," he glanced at the ground and noticed that he was floating half a foot off the floor. With a smile he looked inside of himself, and he could feel her there with him, dusting off his Omnitrix a bit more gently now, "Why don't we do the questioning," he gestured forwards and floated about two feet forward before toppling to his hands and knees, "After we get the hang of that," he groaned.

There was something going on behind the glass, the microphone was being moved around audibly, it was silent as he picked himself back up, this time standing upright, until another voice came over the microphone. This time it was definitely female, it was slightly altered but, it sounded familiar, "Where did you take Gwendolyn on your first date?"

Ben blinked in response, staring down at the floor for a second, he flashed back to the starry night and could almost feel the cool breeze from the altitude, "I took her to the Empire State Building, I don't remember which floor but, the balcony was abandoned… so I thought it would impress her if I strung up some lights and set up one of those cheap foldable tables…" he chuckled to himself as if feeling the nostalgia flow over in waves, simpler times with simpler problems.

"What song played when you asked her to be your girlfriend?"

Ben blinked and looked up at the glass with a confused expression, "No… No, I didn't start playing the music until after I asked, then we ate Burger Shack and-" he was interrupted when the door he was about to blow down with his optic beams swung open as Gwendolyn practically sprinted into his arms. She had rushed into his arms so fast that he had to pick her up and swing with her momentum. Her hands grazed through the scruff of his growing goatee as she simultaneously pressed her lips onto his, savoring the moment with every ounce of her being. It had been a trick question obviously, and he passed with flying colors, though that relief didn't keep her from tightening her embrace.

"Someone please fill us in on what's going on, and get us some pants!" Ben shouted with a smile as he pulled back from her lips, projecting his voice outward toward the hall. He knew there were others behind the glass but, didn't expect a blue and white furred humanoid armored from toe to torso in advanced Plumber gear he had only seen Wes use on one other occasion.

Rook stood at attention in the doorway and saluted him, "I apologize for interrogating you, Mr. Ten Thousand but, I was under direct orders from-" he didn't get to finish his sentence as another familiar face greeted him.

"Benji!" a high-pitched voice shouted as it rounded the corner, smacking Rook on his rear with a cavalier strut, after putting Gwen down he received another tight embrace from Lucy, whom he remembered helping him escape Prometheus. "I thought you were totally gonna die back there, I was sweating bullets! You had us all so worried!" digging her face into his chest where her blonde hair splayed across his shoulder blades.

"Lenopans don't sweat, and we're sure you all did fine without us," Ben tilted his head to the right, he could hear a news broadcast from the other room that described something from Bellwood, without warning he dashed in a sudden burst of speed out of the room, turning the corner on a dime, and heading toward the command center. He was so fast he left a blurred trail of color in his wake, they all rushed to follow at normal speeds, jogging down the hall where they found him standing. Fists clutched, he watched as the block he used to live on was completely demolished, "How long were we out?" he asked in almost a whisper but, Gwendolyn put a hand on his shoulder, trying to turn him around but, he refused, "How long, exactly."

Wearing her new nanotech armor, her grasp felt almost alien to him, so she pulled back and looked down at her feet, "Forty-nine hours and thirty-seven minutes, why do you keep saying we?"

"Where are our parents?" she noticed that his grip was getting even tighter at the thought of them buried under one of those houses displayed by a news helicopter.

Gwendolyn grabbed his shoulder and forced him to turn around, the energy in his eyes was so bright it was almost like staring into the sun, "Look at me, they weren't anywhere near Bellwood, they left for Europe without telling us, all four of them…" she noticed the rage building inside of him, and she could tell the cold armor wasn't helping. She looked down at it as she double tapped the Alpha Rune embedded in her suit's chest, the nanomechanical armor slowly crawled back across her body, melding into the rune. Once the armor had been completely removed, the rune hung from a necklace comprised of similar material over a baby blue blouse and white denim jeans, she reached out to touch his face.

Rook and Lucy walked casually in through the hall behind them, not wanting to intrude on their moment; as her bare fingers touched his face slowly, he instantly released the tension that was building with a long breath out. His city wasn't burning in a heap of rioting flames and chaos, in fact, everything seemed more than ordinary, quite peaceful. "We didn't know what he did to you, and we weren't sure what effects the process would have, that's why I had to make sure you were you." As she cupped his cheeks and looked up at him, she took another single step closer, feeling his skin brush against her palms, "You went through hell, you need to take a minute to breathe," she reminded him as always, the leash to his demons, keeping the darkness at bay within him.

Ben blinked a few times, his pupils appearing from within the light to meet her gaze as the energy dimmed and he reached up to gently grasp her forearms. He grazed his fingers over her skin and took another deep inhale, "I'm okay… I'm okay," he reassured her after a minute or two of tense silence, nodding his head, he looked around at the room. Immediately he lowered his head and placed his forehead against hers, closing his eyes, "As long as you're safe, as long as everyone is safe," he pulled back as Gwen smiled at the look on his face, a fierce determination in his eyes softened by a warm instinct to keep his friends alive. "Where is she?" Ben asked addressing the elephant in the room with a tearful gaze that emerged out from nowhere, "I know what happened, I heard you guys talking while I was unconscious… what did you do with her body?" he asked, still slightly dazed and emotional, only now recalling the seconds before he blacked out, Cooper and Gwendolyn had confirmed Gwen Ten was dead.

Ashamed of not being able to protect her, Gwendolyn lowered her eyes, implying cryogenic storage in the basement below the building, "We diverted the entire sub-levels power to her tank and had Kevin's body transferred to the Rushmore Base where they can keep his body preserved indefinitely," not expecting any of that to sit well with him, she almost anticipated a full blown meltdown but, he shook it off just as easily.

"He was a hero, he deserved a proper burial but, at the same time… his Osmosion DNA could be exploited if we just leave him to rot in the ground," Ben turned around to look out the window, his city gleamed with light from a clear blue sky, birds chirped around as he could see the people below, going peacefully about their day. "I guess we can take Gwen's body back to her reality if and or when Cooper reverse engineers the dimensional shifter…" staring off at the environment, he was lost in thought.

Gwendolyn raised a brow, clearing a throat a bit, "Uhm, he already did that, that's how we got you out of Castle Prometheus in the first place," she corrected him as she made her way over to stand beside him. He felt her fingers pry their way gently into his palm, intertwining their fingers, and squeezing softly, "You remember being on Anti-Earth, don't you?" she referred to it in a way he had never heard before though, it was certainly accurate to say the least.

As Ben furrowed his brow and ran his free hand through his hair, but before he could respond Cooper arrived with a ding from the elevator splitting open the doors for him to walk in. He was connected the entire time via his abilities, listening to them through the buildings sound and PA system. "He doesn't remember because it's not called that!" he playfully shouted across the room at Gwen with a smile as he looked Ben up and down. "Wow, dude, that omni-energy has increased and reinforced your muscle density to the equivalent of concrete," Ben didn't look up at him as he approached but, Gwendolyn still felt confusion falling over him. "Now talking to you is literally like talking to a wall, instead of before when it was only metaphorical." He joked as he stopped from a gesture given by Gwen behind his back, holding out her hand to silence him, taking the hint he immediately stopped in his tracks.

"Are you sure that you're really okay?" Gwendolyn looked closely at his body, where she found a history of scars but, none as prominent as the ones that were dealt in the last ten days by a familiar crimson energy. It was heartbreaking to see his body need to endure so much punishment for such a long period of time.

He blinked, now staring at his reflection rather than the city behind it, reaching his free hand up slowly and running his fingers over his beard, noticing how much time had passed since he'd been able to even shave. "I'm fine," his eyes flashed with omni-energy to which he summoned at will, he felt at peace with 'Trix' which he felt he should call her, allowing him to use his abilities to their fullest extent. "I just need three things…" Lucy, Rook, and Cooper glanced back toward one another with no idea what was going to happen next.

"A shower, a shave, and a smoothie…" he let out a deep exhale of relief as he felt his head slowly unclouding like he remembered from the few times he'd been drunk enough to black out. Gwen's heart skipped a beat as she sighed with relief almost immediately, taking her hand from his and punching him in the arm playfully. Turning around with a sway she scoffed at the three others in the room, diligently doing their best to converse between one another in the case of Lucy and Rook but, ultimately staying quiet enough to overhear everything. "He's gonna be fine!" she announced as she approached the elevator, hitting the button to summon it back up to floor fifty-five. "Cooper, show him his 'not dead' gift while I head up to our room to get him some clothes."

Ben turned his head to face the other three, looking at him like he was some titan walking amongst man, he turned around fully and found all eyes on him, "What?"

Rook was flabbergasted, only managing to stutter out a single sentence, "Y-You were floating earlier…" he stated it as though it were a question but, there was no inquiry.

Looking down at his grounded feet, he chuckled remembering what it felt like to not have his power under control, barely being able to float a step or two off the ground and in a straight line. He wasn't normally one to show off but, in this case, after having met the sentience within his Omnitrix, he could access aerophibian flight at will. Cooper sat at his desk, pulling up a few screens of code, "I was… and who are you?" he lifted off the ground gently, as though he was being pulled by unknown forces, he generally didn't feel like walking.

Lucy elbowed Rook needlessly as they were both already staring at him, "Look, he's doing it again!" she tucked her hair behind her ear as he glided over the floor, placing her hand firmly on the Plumber's armored shoulder, "His name is Rook, you're a legend at the academy! Everyone knows how you saved Earth from Vilgax, and the Highbreed, and now a city killing psychopath from an alternate reality?!" she chuckled nervously as he glanced back at her, his feet pressing firmly landing in front of them.

Rook almost looked like he was sweating through his thin coat of fur, standing as sternly as possible, he reached his hand out and left it in the air, "The honor is yours; I-I mean mine, the honor is mine, sir…" Ben glanced him up and down once or twice and raised his brow at the gesture.

"You helped save my life in the castle?" he questioned with a stoic expression.

Rook was about to take his handshake gesture back when he muttered, "Well, I placed and detonated the bombs…" before he could finish, Ben accepted the gesture gripping the Revonnahgander's hand with a slow swing and a firm clap, shaking it as he remembered the sound of the explosions that happened to not hit any part of his cell.

"You saved my life, both of you did," Releasing his hand, Ben looked between the two and had a fun idea for taking on Prometheus or any planetary threat going forward. "I think that we have a tragic amount of space in our rosters, if you two would be willing, I'm sure you're all welcome as part of our team," he turned his head over his shoulder to glance at Cooper, who'd been staring at code for several minutes since Gwen left the room. "Hey, Coop… what's a not dead gift?"

"Huh? Ooh, it's the kind you get when you don't die," he was staring intently at the holographic screens projecting numbers and letters that rained down in different sequences, "Tap the Omnitrix dial lightly twice, I put in a housing unit for nanoparticles, armor just like Gwendolyn's."

Ben took a few steps back, looking down at the gauntlet on his forearm before glancing up at the two new friends he'd been getting acquainted with, Lucy shrugged and Rook swallowed the frog in his throat and spoke up, "It's a polymorphic material similar in durability to my own proto-armor, it should be very ice cold."

Ben nodded in understanding and looked back at Lucy, being more familiar with her, "Does he mean cool?"

"I think so, his species language is very exotic," Lucy confirmed glancing between the two throughout her answer, "I find it fascinating!"

"Yea, uhuh… so, super armor then? Okay," he double tapped the glass-like faceplate hourglass display on the Omnitrix and summoned from where the indestructible material met flesh, a swarm of microscopic nanobots weaving together the armor seemingly from out of thin air, spreading over his entire torso and arms with a dark emerald, green hourglass symbol woven into the armored fabric. It was almost skintight but, not uncomfortable surprisingly, but also took the effort of forming silver metal plated boots that protected his shins from the kneecap down. "This is bad ass! I can feel it channeling my omni-energy," he turned to Cooper as the dark neon green plated stripes flashed as he summoned his powers; the technopath took a moment to scoot his rolling chair away so he could see the group again. His eyes went wide, analyzing the energy output readings from scanners built into his suit to also monitor his vitals.

Cooper leaned back in his chair and whistled with a smile, prompting Ben to chuckle at him, "I know, I'm a genius, bask in my creation," he said sarcastically as he tapped the interactive glassware that was his desk, summoning a hologram projection of Ben's current vitals including his heart rate, body temperature, pulse rate, respiration rate, and even his blood pressure. If anything were to critically injure him in battle, the suit would alert a member of his team immediately no matter where on Earth he is. "Bullet proof, friction proof for super speed, molecular genetic transmissions that channel your omni-energy, the words your looking for are, thank you?" Cooper smiled as Ben crossed the room in a confident strut, his fists placed on his hips to show off his broadened chest, he stepped around the advanced desk to pat him on the back.

"Thanks man, this is really going to up our game," the elevator dinged behind him as Gwendolyn arrived with a towel and a change of clothes with her man, some items floating around her, "Seriously, you're awesome!" Ben announced as he looked down at the armor, the doors split open, and she emerged glancing over the suit while biting her bottom lip.

"Well, someone looks good in that new toy, but we have a serious problem… and we need a fully refreshed and lucid Ben Ten Thousand to finish this war between you and Prometheus once and for all," Gwen rounded Ben and looked him up and down multiple times, planning what she was going to do to him after this was all finally resolved. "Double tap it again and put on some pants, I'm gonna debrief you and then we're going upstairs for a healing session and a shower," she had obviously taken up a lot of responsibility in his absence, and he wasn't making any of the right decisions up until this point. Prometheus proved it with hard evidence, he looked at Gwendolyn and smiled, she could tell he wasn't delirious or fatigued by reading his emotions as he spoke up.

"I know I was gone for some time, some of you are new and you think automatically, 'Ben Ten Thousand will show us the way' well I'm here to tell you, I'm not your guy," Ben took a step forwards and put a hand on Gwendolyn's shoulder prompting heat to rise into her cheeks as their eyes met, her face flooding with a smile, "But, I know who can show us the way, if she's willing… I'd like to make Gwendolyn team leader until further notice, we need to establish a unity and play to our strengths if we want to protect the Earth."

Rook took a step or two forwards, as if to speak up through his tense anxiety which Gwendolyn could feel radiating off of the novice in waves, "I would be honored to join your task force Mr. Te- Mrs. Tennyson," he corrected himself addressing the proper authority, Gwen glanced behind her fiancé to see the determined expression on Rook's face. Turning her attention to her blonde cousin in-law, and extending a palm as if to gesture to her.

"Lucy, nobody is gonna force you to stay if you really want to go back to your stationed Plumber unit but, there's a spot for you here on Team Ten Thousand too," Gwendolyn reassured, as Lucy scoffed at her with a chuckled snort, waving at her as though it was crazy to even assume such a thing.

Lucy snorted with a laughter which somehow the Revonnahgander found endearing, "Of course I'm staying! You have like a hundred empty bedrooms in this place! And I've never felt more alive in my whole life than when I was playing my part to save Ben; I became a Plumber to do good by my race and I think there's no better place to make my mark in Sludgepuppy history!" Seeming baffled by her resolve, Gwendolyn took a few seconds to wrap her head around Lucy's determination, they hadn't gotten too many conversations in since the raid on Prometheus' Castle so, it was nice to see that she was more than just a preppy shapeshifter.

Gwendolyn gave Ben a glance who understandably nodded, silently giving her the reigns to the operation, "Prometheus has been quiet ever since you went into a coma, he demolished half of Bellwood and went into hiding somewhere."

Cooper spoke up as his fingers flew over the holographic keys that sequenced a geological survey of the devastated city, "The National Guard is in New York surrounding the city but, anytime they close…" the implications being obvious, this also meant that both the Government and Cooper knew where he was.

Gwendolyn glanced back towards Ben with a look of uncertainty, "So, should we go after him?"

Folding his arms across his chest, he raised his brow with an understanding expression, double tapping the Omnitrix dial and watching as the armor re-contained itself slowly melting back into the housing unit within the watch. Ben grabbed the spare clothes out of Gwen's hand, he let out a long-exasperated sigh, and glanced back to his lovely fiancé. "I don't know, you tell me," he responded confidently.

…

Earth Prime

Bellwood; New York; February 8th, 2018; 12:08PM

Prometheus sat with his legs crossed in an abandoned warehouse just outside of the docks, the very same dock where Ben and Gwen went on their first mission together, now completely shut down it made for the perfect hiding place. His doppelganger was right, as much as he hated to admit it, using the other Omnitrix cores isn't enough anymore. Each transformation burns, his movements slower and his attacks weaker, he knew he was dying but, he could still take one last Ben Tennyson out along with himself.

On his knees, he meditated as he sharpened his katana simultaneously, his own physical body being the only thing not sending jolts of pain through him, even as his migraine split open his head and the corrupted energy consumed him. Even still through all of that, his eyes snapped open with a flash of crimson light, "He's awake." he growled, sensing his opposite.

…