Chapter 2: Base Building

After a few minutes of running, and backtracking because I almost ran into the ocean, holy shit XLR8 is FAST, I found a good place to set up at. Said place was a mountain in the middle of... Somewhere. A nice place where no one would bother me on accident, and a good place to just laze around and ignore the death world I was trapped on... For now.

Fun thing about being an XLR8, I forgot what his species was called, I can think about a bunch of things and finish my train of thought a few moments after I started it. That also helped me remember that this world already had contact with another Earth, and that Cauldron, I was surprised a portal didn't open up in front of me with a gun at the end of it when I thought that name, and was even more surprised that it didn't happen before I woke up at all... (Yeah, that's a nice thought. Being fucking shot in my sleep.)

Back to the original thought.

Other worlds were a confirmed thing here, and even in Ben 10 the Null Void existed, and Ben 10,000 and younger Ben showed time travel. So, with world traveling and potential time shenanigans on the table, I could probably Grey Matter/Brainstorm/Juryigg/Upgrade a portal to somewhere else, hopefully an anime world, and fuck off when I was ready... Or after I killed Alien Jesus. Sure, I didn't HAVE to do it, especially because there were a few years before canon got to that point, I yoinked a newspaper while I zoomed through New York earlier so I knew it was 2011, so I had time before the discount Joker convinced the alien man to commit mass genocide... (Note to self, kill discount Joker soon.)

Now, some might judge me for jumping onto the 'Murder' band wagon as quickly as I was, but to them I say 'You get stuck in Worm, let's see how long you last without killing someone.' Plus, he had it coming.

I stopped running around the mountain for a moment, and just scratched my chin. "Another note to self, XLR8 makes it hard to stay on topic." I temporarily forgot WHAT said topic was for a moment too... Which wasn't helping right now... "Uhhh... What was I... Aha! Anime world!" Remembering what I was thinking before my mind jumped onto the murder hobo train, I nodded to myself.

If shit didn't pan out, or when I figured out how to kill the depressed dumbass, I already had a few ideas thanks to thinking at the speed of FAST, I could peace out and leave this shit hole behind. When I did I could just keep world hopping until I found a good enough place to stay, and build myself up from there, and also adventure at my own leisure.

That thought, I hummed, and slapped the dial on my chest, thinking of Armodrillo.

The change was instant, but I had to pause for a second to reorient myself. It wasn't because I felt weird in the form, so far transforming was like being enveloped in a big quilt in winter, I liked becoming a potato whenever I felt like it, it was because I was not only bigger, but my thoughts went back to normal speed too... Which felt weird... It wasn't like a crash, more like I was going from Lunch to English... (My explanations need work.) Shrugging that thought off, I walked towards the base of the mountain, my Jackhammer's primed and ready, and went to work.

After... I had no idea how long since I never timed out, I made a cavern that made me think of the Batcave. It wasn't finished though, so I turned into Water Hazard and started blasting. I'd seen videos of water cutting through steel, so stone should be nothing...

Looking at the long and deep gashes I'd blasted into the walls, I nodded to myself. "Well... I'm gonna have to figure out how pressure control works." Something fell onto me, and I looked up. Blinking all four eyes, I didn't even move. "Also how to fire these things independently." I'd manage... Somehow.

After who knows how long, I managed to learn how to reliably turn myself into a proficient Power Washer. That led to the most satisfying time of my life because holy shit making things nice and smooth was like taking crack... Sure, I'd never ACTUALLY done that, but I was pretty sure that fit for what I was doing. I was also pretty sure this was a 'Me' thing that was being reinforced by my current form, because I fully dove into those videos when they started coming out on YouTube, I even got a tweet liked by the official account at one point, but I was also sure that whatever species Water Hazard was liked this too. (Bonus points to them then.)

Anyway, with my base all nice and aesthetically pleasing, I turned into Heatblast and got the water to evaporate. When everything was good, I turned into Terraspin to get the air flowing, then to Diamondhead to shoot out some crystals. Using the instincts I had from this form, I made a 'Chair.' Though... It was more of a lumpy thing... That could maybe be classified as a bean bag chair? "Well... That's another thing I'll need to work on."

Shrugging to myself, I slapped the dial, turning back into 'Myself.' Though as I did, I blinked at the reflection in my 'Chair.' It slipped my mind at some point, probably when I was XLR8 and thinking about whatever jumped into my mind at the time, but seeing the reflection in the 'Chair', I was reminded that this wasn't my body... Frowning for a second, I brought a few hairs to my face, and frowned more when I saw that yes, I now had green tips. "I don't even like green." Letting it go, I focused on what I was seeing, and stopped frowning. "... Alien Force Ben, but with green tips huh?" And now that I was seeing it... "I even sound like him too." I did, and I was sort of surprised that I didn't catch it the first time I started speaking... "Though to be fair, I just woke up after being Isekai'd...And I haven't re watched Alien Force in a few years..."

Thinking about it for a bit longer, I shrugged. "Whatever." Making my way to the 'Chair', I plopped my ass onto it... And came to the conclusion that using crystals tough enough to tank lasers and super strength as a seat was a bad idea. "Good fucking lord!"

After a few minutes of bitching about hurting my ass, I decided that laying on the smooth floor was better... And it WAS too, so my actions were validated!

...

Sighing, I closed my eyes and just thought about my situation. (So... Worm... Ugh...) Thinking about the world I was stuck in left a bad taste in my mouth... For multiple reasons really.

Firstly, and sort of most importantly, I never actually read the books. I'd read fan fictions, found the fandom at some point and decided I liked it enough to read more. Because of that I didn't actually know what canon looked like, or what wasn't fiction. I'd read a bunch of stuff about Worm, some where Taylor snapped, some where she got different powers, some where she had crossover powers, the usual. And since none of those ever reached the time skip part of the books, I had no idea what I'd be missing or what could be different if I waited a few years...

Aside from when the depressed alien was convinced to kill everyone.

Or when Taylor gets double tapped after killing said god by enslaving everyone with powers.

... I was pretty sure there was some kind of Attack on Titan thing going on later... But I didn't know if I was just mixing up crossovers or if that was an actual thing. (Fucks sake, atleast drop me somewhere I actually know the canonical timeline!) Huffing again, I tried to think about what was consistent through whatever I'd read. (So, Taylor gets bullied, shoved into a coffin the Joker wouldn't even touch with a 10 foot pole, note to self figure out a way to help with that.) I had no idea if that happened yet, or if it didn't, I was shit with dates, but I wasn't going to let that shit slide either way. I didn't care about much, and 'Much' was stretching it, but I had things that annoyed the hell out of me, and Taylor going through all that and not getting justice annoyed me something fierce. Especially cause she had the patience of a saint for not just turning her school into a nesting ground for her bugs. (I mean seriously, she becomes an Egyptian Plague in the making, and DOESN'T use the army of bugs at her command to kill everyone that hurt her? EX Patience if I ever heard of it... She also takes a few months do do her thing, right? I think that stays consistent... But WHEN does she do it?) I wracked my brain for a bit, trying to remember the exact date, but after a few minutes of not getting anything, I huffed again. "Well shit... Maybe Brainstorm or Grey Matter will help with that." I was going to have a lot of shit on my list of things to do, but I'd figure it out.

(After that... She fights the Rage Dragon? She wins by... Getting bugs to eat through his junk? Uhhh... I dunno... Eh, she wins somehow. Then she meets the bearded asshole with a stick up his ass... Gets convinced? Or did she convince him that going undercover would be a good idea? Either way, I'm pretty sure that stays the same through a majority of fics.) I wasn't counting Crossovers or ones where she got different powers. (Sooo... When do I stick my dick in this clusterfuck?) That was the question here... (Actually, first I need to confirm some shit... And get furniture.)

Getting up, I popped the dial and after cycling towards my favorite speedster, transformed in a flash of green. "XLR8!" Smiling as I looked down at my body, I got back into a runners stance, then hit the jets.

I needed resources to build shit with, an actual bed, and a whole bunch of other shit too... (FUCK, I need to be productive!)

I was considering saying fuck it and just figuring out a way to leave this universe.

After three hours, I stole a clock and a real watch, I had everything I'd need to live the life of a hermit.

I had a wardrobe that wasn't what Ben wore, a bunch of sweaters and baggy pants, my go to. I liked being comfy, and those were my comfy clothes.

A fully stocked kitchen... Which was sort of redundant since I only knew how to make scrambled eggs and pancakes, but it was there.

A bathroom with working plumbing, though I had to use Grey Matter to figure out how to actually do that without fucking it up and then Water Hazard to make everything work.

I had a bedroom with a massive Queen Bed that I took from... India? I had no idea where or who I stole it from, all I knew was the thing was fluffy and soft and it was MINE! There was also a computer that I used Juryrigg +Grey Matter + Brainstorm to make... So I pretty much had Computer God in my room, armed with internal servers and a working Wi-Fi connection that I somehow put in there with the red gremlin. The fucking thing was probably strong enough to hold an A.I or a dozen, but I wasn't going to step into creating life yet... I'd probably do it later just because I could, and watch what happens.

I was Chaotic Neutral for a reason.

My living room had a bunch of stuff, a big TV, a massive fluffy rug, a few bean bag chairs, and whatever else I needed.

I even had a big basement to train in!

All in all, my base was great!

And I didn't time out once! Not even after constantly switching between everyone I had, the watch didn't time me out! Now, I didn't know if I had unlimited time, or if it was because I wasn't in a fight or something, but so far it was looking like I probably had a good chance of fulfilling my Win Conditions if I could spend all day as an alien. (Though I'll need to figure out a way to test if I'll be forced to time out if I get too hurt... Before I find that out in combat.) I frowned at that thought, slowly chewing on my fries as I thought about the threats in this world... Mainly THE big bads... (I'll need to use the big brains to try and make some super scanner that works on bullshit logic to use against the Kaiju's, figure out where their cores are and kidnap that one girl in New York that can kill anything... Or I can figure out where Eidolon lives and kill him in his sleep. That'd do it... I think?) I wasn't actually sure if that would work... ('Maybe List' it goes.)

(For Zion... I could maybe use the big brains to make some dimension finder thing to search for his main body and kidnap the New York chick so she can shoot it... Or make a doom laser and do it myself... Actually, how much of this shit can I do on my own?) When I thought about it, it was hard to find out what I COULDN'T do. Even without Way Big or the other guys I was missing, I had a few ways to beat this stupid death world. (Okay... So if I can do this on my own, do I need to get involved in the 'Story?' Or anything else, aside from making the bitches suffer?)

Thinking about what I 'Knew' of the series, I tried to figure out what I would/should get involved in. (Obvious one is obvious. Um... The bombings?) Sipping on the milkshake I stole, Ben's body had cravings mine didn't, I wracked my mind about it. (Don't know anyone involved, so I don't really care... So unless I get involved for some reason, I'll sit it out. Uh... Oh, Dinah!) I paused for a second, confused that I somehow forgot about the save scummer kidnapping and drugging a preteen girl, but then I remembered that this was Worm, and apparently worse shit happened. (Okay, so I gotta make sure the girl doesn't end up getting taken by the pedo snake... Which is easy really. I could yoink her for myself, yoink her and her parents to another state, kill the snake, which is gonna be difficult because he's a save scummer, but I got aliens and shit. I have months till that happens though, I think, so I can iron out plans later.)

Nodding at that, I moved on. (Leviathan drops by... Before, the mother of monsters comes out to play? Dunno... Um... The 9? They come at some point, and I DO need to deal with the main murder hobo, so if I wanna be lazy and wait for them to show up I can totally do that. After that... Things happen?) I paused... "Huh... That's all I got... Well shit." I knew some other stuff, things like Dragon and her whole thing, Cauldron, I looked around for any portals and went back to eating/thinking when none popped up, and some other minor stuff... But that was it.

I took the time to finish the rest of my Happy Meal, it wasn't my fault some dude had just walked out when I got hungry, then got up. I had to figure out a bunch of stuff, make defenses for my base, then go take a nap. I was more active today then in the last three years, Corona gave me a convenient excuse to laze around like a bear in hibernation, and I deserved a good nights sleep after everything.

It was a half hour later while I was working on a phone, because no way in hell was I going to go back to using a flip phone, that an alert popped up on the God Computer. Gently setting down the Prototype God Phone, I transformed back into 'Myself', and made my way over to it. I had a V.I set up to monitor PHO, Brockton Bay News, hospitals, and the Brockton Bay PRT database.

Though seeing what the alert was, I blinked. "Huh... So that was today... Yikes." Apparently today was the day Taylor was shoved in the locker. She'd been checked into Brockton Bay General Hospital and was slated to get Panacea healing... "Ah, that... Note to self, don't let the Red Queen become a thing." I mentally crossed out the 'Kill her' option, healers were valuable as fuck and I wasn't about to toss one away just because she had the chance to become a global threat.

Upside to this was now I knew where I was in the timeline... Downside was that Taylor was now infested with a parasite that used her traumatic experience to turn her into its lab rat to throw into conflict... "Anyway." Turning back into Grey Matter I went back into working on the Prototype God Phone.

It wasn't my problem at the moment, and was something that future Phoenix would need to deal with... I paused, tilting my head as what sounded like my voice on the winds. 'Fuck you.' Either I was hearing shit, or future me was petty enough to make something that could send words back to the past...

That sounded about right for me.

Anyway, I went back to work.

After 10 hours of working, losing track of time as Grey Matter is scarily easy, I collapsed onto my bed. My base was now a fortress to anyone not wielding an Ultimatrix, and was probably one of the most fortified places in the world. It was crazy really, but Ben was limited in a bunch of ways I wasn't. Since I didn't time out, I could spend hours working on projects with the mind of a genius, get said projects set up with another alien, then get back to working on more projects. Meanwhile Ben was held back by timing out... And also not being very bright.

I mean come on, guy could do so much better if he had guys like Grey Matter make him some weapons or armor so he wouldn't be a liability when he timed out... Though there was also Cartoon Logic involved, so I couldn't blame him too much.

Anyway, back to what I did with my base.

The front door was camouflaged and required a voice command, eye scan, DNA recognition, and Ultimatrix verification to get in, most but not all of the walls were coated in Diamondhead crystals, so anyone trying to break through the mountain was sort of shit out of luck. I was going to add some turrets and actual defenses to the areas I didn't coat, but after recognizing I missed dinner, I took an hour break to eat and relax before getting back into it. I had schematics and other plans, but not enough materials to make them. I didn't realize it, but I must've gotten distracted while I was XLR8 and didn't raid some junkyard for materials, instead just taking some stuff from a computer store or two and then forgetting about the rest of my raiding... I'd need to work on that, because getting distracted as an alien dino that can run at mach speeds isn't exactly a good thing.

Atleast I had the God Phone and Computer God for my efforts... "God I'm a fucking idiot." I decided to ignore everything else and just sleep.

I could make lasers and shit tomorrow.

{The next day}

Opening my eyes, I looked around... And after making sure I actually was Isekai'd, I closed my eyes again.

I'd get up and be productive later.

Fuck today.

My stomach protested my decision and so I got up. I'd go back to sleep after breakfast.