Aliens always had a knack for attacking places they had no business going.
From the alien warlord Vilgax assaulting Earth in search of the Omnitrix, to the series of conflicts across the galaxy; things would never completely be safe for the galaxy and perhaps even the universe.
But to combat these threats, the Plumbers remain, ready to take the fight to any alien menace, no matter the cost; with their hero Ben Tennyson and many more, nothing could ever triumph over the heroic forces defending the galaxy, and they would continue to defend things for as long as needed.
But sometimes, the Plumbers needed new recruits to assist in their peacekeeping…some from…stranger sources…
"So…why'd ya call me here for again Grandpa?" Their combined footfalls were the only noise throughout the green and white halls of the Plumber HQ, considering it was early in the morning at around 5 or 6 AM. Ben Tennyson, Earth's hero, looked as he always did, shaking himself awake as he ruffled out his green and black tee, his brown jeans wrinkled as well, along with his sneakers, the iconic Omnitrix resting on his arm still, pristine as always. His grandfather, still known as one of the greatest Plumbers hailing from the Milky Way Galaxy, was dressed in his own iconic getup; a Hawaiian shirt with white pants and brown shoes, walked along with Ben, but despite his casual outfit he wore a stern expression none the less. "Did the world need savin' again? Another bad guy needs a smack down? Smoothie run?"
"No Ben, something else." The sixteen-year-old noticed now they were in the Detention Center, where the Plumbers kept their prisoners, going past some of those he had fought once or twice in the past and, obviously, ignoring their threats. They came to a stop outside a darkened cell, and Ben's grin began to fall slightly…whatever was in there, it gave him chills…a weird feeling.
"You can come out now, no sense in hiding." Max spoke, and Ben saw just what was in there, some sort of…bug like monster approaching the force field, staring at them with an eyeless gaze.
It was something straight out of a sci-fi horror movie, its skin a strange reddish black chitin, as it looked roughly humanoid but with acute differences; having a head positioned on a long neck, digitigrade legs, and a long tail that seemed prehensile, flicking in the air and showing it had serrated spikes along it. It had broadened shoulders and long arms, indicating it was able to run on both two and four legs, as a strange…fin like protrusion was present on its upper back, like something a shark of some sort would have. Its hands had only four fingers, counting a thumb, and its toes had three instead, but with a thumb as well, as its head was the…by far the scariest thing, looking like a lizard or a snake's but with many differences. Its head had a maw full of sharp teeth, its upper jaws being normal whereas its lower jaws were two mandibles covered in teeth, the one at the end of each mandible being longer and serrated as well. It had no eyes on its head, yet somehow Ben could still feel like it was…staring at him, somehow.
"…Grandpa…what…is this thing?" Max watched the creature step back in the cell, retreating into the darkness it had been immersed in long before their arrival, tone still concerned despite them clearly being in no danger.
"This thing is what I wanted to show you Ben; around 12 AM an unidentified ship was spotted in Earth's atmosphere, seemingly out of control when it crashed in South America. Plumbers were the first to investigate and we found a badly damaged ship and this creature…we have to contain him in case he lashes out at someone."
"Looks like those weird monsters from the horror movies I saw as a kid…do we know what…it is? And why is it in that cell?"
"So far we've gotten some information on it via some scans conducted, and we concluded it's a creature from a further away galaxy, one the Plumbers hadn't ever trekked into; something called an Aluneca."
"That's great and all but…still…why the cell?" Ben got his answer when he saw the Aluneca prowl around the cell, showing on each limb it had claws, extremely sharp claws.
"That's why Ben; it attacked two Plumbers and tried to eat them. At first we thought it was just an invader but as things went on we learned it was like a cornered animal; scared and confused."
"Must be a bad feeling…still…what information do we have on Alunecas?"
"So far they're a parasitic lifeform who, upon hatching from eggs, latch onto a lifeform and implant an embryo inside that gestates and then erupts from them days later, killing the host in the process."
"…yeah so exactly like those monsters from the movies; and his kind aren't dangerous to the universe?" Max stepped over to a console against the wall, and his next response was…unexpected.
"No, he's not."
"Really?! But…how? You just said its kind act like parasites to other races- "
"But this one seems to have no real big problems; just doesn't know where it is." The Aluneca stared from beyond the shield with that glare…that eyeless glare. "A lost traveler, in other words. It attacked out of self-defense…the two Plumbers who investigated made a pretty rookie move when they saw it."
"And what'd that be? Shoot at 'em?" Max's stern look told him the answer, Ben's smirk fading for a second.
"…who does that? No wonder they got hurt." The creature was silent now, save for a steady trilling noise, one Max took notice too.
"Seems it's calmed down now, not as…frantic as before."
"Yeah, but we can't keep calling it well…it; does the Aluneca have a name?"
"Somewhat, the Plumbers are going by the only word it spoke in a recognizable language, Menct. No idea but we're estimating it's a shortened version of a name."
"Alright then…Menct, can you understand me?" Ben knew it was a long shot, more or less something he probably didn't think possible, but surprisingly the creature's head nodded slightly; it knew English!
"Finally! We're getting somewhere, Grandpa do you have any questions for him now since that's usually your thing with aliens." He nodded, and cleared his throat, focusing his attention on the Aluneca and speaking in a calm, confident tone, to ensure he didn't startle the thing.
"Where did you come from?" Those mandibles moved in a chittering pattern, no words remotely understandable. "Hmm…maybe it can only speak a few words in English."
"Probably, lemme try; are you a boy, or girl?" The claws trailed along the field, something being…traced out; Max being the one to get the symbol traced out.
The gender symbol for males.
"It's a He, so he's intelligent as well, but we still can't really understand him…hmm…I have an idea." A call was put in and one of the rookies showed up later, bearing something Ben hadn't seen for a long time.
A Universal Translator.
"Oh sweet, forgot we had these." Max accepted the small device and turned to the force field, seeing the Aluneca back up a tad, either out of fear or respect, it was hard to really tell.
"Now if I lower this shield…no one gets hurt right?" No response, aside from a series of chittering noises. As a precaution, Ben powered the Omnitrix up and very slowly changed it to Swampfire…just in case there had to be a fight. The green shield lowered, and Max took a step forward, pressing the Translator to Menct's arm, and waited to see if what he spoke would come out as English.
Neither of them expected an ear-piercing noise to erupt from the device, making Ben keel over and clutch his ears, Max doing the same while Menct slashed the device off, letting it clutter to the ground and break into pieces.
"Ghh…that didn't feel good," Max rose back up and took a step back, Menct remaining still save for now being on all fours, watching them still. "So he's like the Vulpimancers and whatever language he speaks can't be translated whatsoever."
"Yep…do you think I could…try to use the Omnitrix to turn into what he is? Or at the very least try something to understand him?"
"It's a long shot but I think it'd work, just be careful." Ben's hand reached out slowly…and when it made contact with Menct's head he didn't turn into…his kind, but he heard voices in his head, savage words and roars inside his mind; rending and raking it. His hand shot away after what felt like ages, and yet it was only really just a few seconds.
"Ben, you okay?" He panted and calmed down, and shook himself off, looking to Menct and seeing him further into the cell, backed away more.
"I-I'm fine…but I did get some information on our friend here. You were right about him being lost; an Incursean scout party attacked his ship when he was nearing our system, trying to pass right by and he had to crash here or risk crashing somewhere…less safe."
"Figured they'd be a cause of this; anything else?"
"Yeah, he's a peacekeeper of sorts. In his galaxy his kind wear some sort of high tech armor to…police their galaxy. It actually sounds pretty awesome, though I got a glimpse of it only."
"I thought the word Aluneca sounded familiar, especially from the slim records we have; the Alunecan Guardians, they must've never made direct contact with the Plumbers due to how…they work."
"And how is that?"
"The Alunecan Guardians have a habit of tearing apart and destroying whatever threatens their systems…and then eat them. They never take prisoners and even when they do it's for a very short time. None the less, we should try to establish communications with another Alunecan Guardian…see if they can get him back to his system." While the option to keep Menct in the cell as a precaution came up, it seemed wiser to bring him with then, though the entire walk Ben was cautious to…not startle the creature, as they reached the COMs deck.
The room was still empty as before, thus it was a simple fix for Max to head to one of the many terminals and key in a code, trying to intercept the frequencies of an Alunecan Guardian vessel. After a brief delay the screen flickered to show another one of those creatures, but Ben immediately took notice to something that the other one lacked.
This one had eyes, for one thing.
More differences were present, as this Aluneca's chitin was a brighter, yellow and black hue, as it was coated from head to toe in segmented gold and brown armor, leaving all but the head exposed. Its eyes were numbering to be six, all of them black. Even its head was different, more bug like and its mandibles being that of a grasshopper's. Something also noticed was a Universal Translator was present on its chest, no doubt the reason it spoke...but then why didn't it work for Menct?
"This is a secure network," Its voice was insectoid; Ben able to hear a strange clicking sound with each word it spoke. "Identify yourself."
"This is Magister Maxwell Tennyson of Earth of the Milky Way Plumbers, we have one of your kind here and he needs Evac. Is it possible to send a ship or do you need us to bring him to a meeting point" The other Aluneca glanced to Menct, and seemed to…show disgust, mandibles flared and head shaking.
"We're not coming after a Sharken breed; he was sent there for a reason."
"Wait, sent?" Ben piped in, the Aluneca on the screen turning to look in his direction, nodding slightly.
"Yes, sent; Sharken Aluneca, born from the land sharks of Tremos IV in the Spheros System, are not true Aluneca, just mindless half breeds incapable of anything worth-while. We sent him away for a good reason you should know."
"That may be, but why to our galaxy? Why here?"
"He was to be sent to one of furthest galaxies away; I apologize sincerely that the Shuttle he was in crashed there…not even I anticipated the Incurseans would assault it."
"They tend to fire at anything in their airspace, regardless, what do you mean you're not coming after him?" Max crossed his arms and glared at the Aluneca on the screen, the creature's arms folding in return as it exhaled.
"A Sharken Breed isn't fit to be a Guardian, nor anything important. His fate is in your hands, be it death or something else, so long as we never must deal with him again." Menct let out a sharp snarl at the screen, tail slashing the ground as his claws dug into the ground, showing heavy anger towards the other Aluneca. The line cut afterwards, and despite Max's best efforts they couldn't get another signal, Ben turning to see Menct lower his head and utter a lower series of noises.
They were obviously voicing severe depression; being rejected by his own kind for being different…something like that was still a horrid thought. When he had peered into his head earlier, despite the rampant thoughts, Ben could still see that this creature had wanted to be a Guardian like the others...to fit in essentially, and that chance had been declined for him.
"Well, there's no way we can get another signal; what do we do now Ben? Any bright ideas?"
"I have one, yeah." He rubbed his chin, the dark tension slowly lifting as a smile formed on the hero's face. "It's a long shot but you say the Aluneca are supposed to be protectors right, Guardians close to the Plumbers?"
"Yes, are you suggesting that…"
"Menct become a Plumber instead of one of those dumb Guardians, yeah! I mean with some training and some crash courses he could do good; maybe even be as good as you!" He could see it worked to win his grandfather over, as the aged man chuckled and shook his head, turning to the Aluneca with a shrug.
"It's up to you Menct, we know you can understand us so do you want a chance at being a Plumber? To defend this galaxy and many others with the best of the best?" The creature rose from all fours and stood upright, head nodding after a brief delay.
It'd be a crazy road, but Ben had a feeling he just enlisted a recruit unlike any other for the Plumbers.
To Be Continued
(The reason behind this story, I started watching Omniverse again, or really some episodes I found on Youtube, and my brain started working again. So of course after a long enough time my mind began to ponder the subject of creating an extraterrestrial OC to put as a Plumber and have him go through a few key points in the Omniverse Timeline. So bear in mind, this can be…considered an AU, as the character, Menct, will be present during some things and events that happened through the series, even the Frogs of War episode and some of the wide scale fights. There will also be chapters with Menct on his own; think of this like Halo 3: ODST, viewing how an ordinary Plumber kicks it. So enjoy, I'll see how long I keep inspired for this project, hopefully long enough to see it through to the end.
-MKnightium)