Chapter Two
Teleportation is a strange thing. Whether it's going a few feet, a few miles, or going across the universe. No one would use it if they knew what happened to them in those milliseconds. They're ripped apart, atom by atom, and then shot about the space between realities where Space and time don't really exist. Then they are rebuilt, a process even more painful than being ripped apart. Then, finally, they are shoved out of this hell and into the user's destination. Thankfully all this happens before the human nervous system can register the pain. If it did not, the user would forever be crippled by it.
The same process of Teleportation is used when crossing universes, except it is even more violent. When the user gets to the space between realities, they are broken down once again. Their atoms turn into subatomic particles. Those particles break into something smaller. Then smaller. Then smaller still. Until they are small enough to fit in between the cracks of reality and slip into a different universe all together.
All of this happened to Ben Tennyson and his posse. Try as I might, I was unable to pull them back to their home universe. I would grab hold of one particle only for it to split into smaller pieces and slip through my grasp. But eventually, I let him through. After all, what was the harm? How could Ben possibly cause any damage to my experiments? That was what I told myself. But I know now the real reason. I wanted him to see. I wanted someone to see what I had done, like a child shoving their mundane drawing into their parents face. After all, what was the point if only I could see what I was doing? How would anyone know?
If only I had known...
Ben could feel ground beneath him. Air in his lungs. Traveling between universes had felt like swimming in cement. His entire body was drained of all energy. He wondered how Dr. Animo and Vilgax managed to stand up after they had jumped.
Ben opened his eyes, and immediately blood from his forehead dripped into his sockets. He wanted to wipe it away, but his arms weighed tons, and he was unable to. He wanted to crack off a joke and ask for help, but when he spoke, it came out as an inaudible moan.
"Ben...?" A feminine voice moaned. "Kevin?"
"Over here." a masculine one responded. Ben could see a shadow through the red. Someone wiped the blood off his eyes as if though wiping snow off a windshield. He could see the shadow was Kevin. He grabbed him and lifted him upright, leaning on Kevin's broad shoulders.
"Ow." Ben muttered. Kevin turned to Gwen, who barely managed to stand on her own strength.
"You two okay?" she asked.
"Fine." Kevin responded. Ben could hear only the slightest hint of discomfort in his voice. Kevin walked over to her, practically dragging Ben along with him until he decided he could stand under his own power.
Ben balanced on his feet, but already he was bouncing back. With his energy came his anger. Dr. Animo had put his friends in harm's way. He turned violently towards them.
"What the-" but he stopped. Vilgax and Dr. Animo were no longer where he had seen them before. He turned his head on a swivel, looking for them. Gwen and Kevin noticed they were gone as well and looked.
"Where are they?" Gwen asked.
"Where are we?" Kevin retorted. Ben quit looking for Vilgax and Animo and began to notice his surroundings. They were in the middle of a road, and they stood in a crater that they had created upon re-entry, except the sky above them showed no breaks in the clouds. They hadn't fallen from the sky.
On either side of them sat dozens of cars that had been pushed away from their landing area, many with crushed bumpers, and all with confused and dazed drivers. Police lights flickered on some ends, and police officers were quickly creating a perimeter around the strange trio.
"Oh man." Kevin muttered. "i think we've got a problem."
"Where are Vilgax and Animo?" Ben asked.
"I don't know. Gone. Maybe...maybe we lost them." Gwen responded, her words slurred by worry.
"We've got company." Kevin yelled. Three police officers ran at the teens, their pistols drawn. Ben could see that the pistols were not normal ones, they were laser pistols, similar to those held by Plumbers like his grandfather.
"Hands up!" one of the more confident police officers yelled. Kevin and Gwen did so. Ben, however, walked towards the police officers.
"Hold on a sec." Ben said warmly. "We're here to help."
"I said Hands up!" the cop ordered once again.
"My name is-"
"No! Ben!" Gwen muttered. Ben ignored her.
"Ben Tennyson." Ben finished.
The policemen looked at each other. Ben quickly realized what a mistake he had made. If he was evil in his universe, they would undoubtedly take any chance they could to take him down. He looked down at his wrist, and suddenly he had the strength to lift his arms. He swallowed, hard. What if they-
They laughed. The police officers let out a loud bout of laughter that made Ben worried and relieved at the same time. One of the cops looked at him.
"Kid. We know Ben Tennyson. He grew up here in Bellwood. You don't even look like him."
"What?" Gwen stepped forward, and Kevin right behind her. "But-"
"POLICE." a loud voice filled the air as a white alien like craft broke through the clouds and quickly descended. A purple light came from the middle of the ship and hit the ground. And in that purple light, three figures came down to the ground like gods coming off their chariots. The three figures were dark, silhouetted in the strange purple light. They landed right in front of the police, only feet away from the trio.
"He's packing level 20 technology." the voice from before yelled. His voice was seemingly one with the intercoms from the spaceship and intercoms around the town. The police immediately turned around, signaling their allies, and citizens ran.
The purple light faded, and the spaceship once again ascended towards the clouds. Ben looked at them intently, his hand itching to press down on his Ultimatrix and attack the figures before him.
Shadows seemed to favor the figures. They wrapped around them and disguised them. At first, Ben could only see certain things. The figure in the middle had what appeared to be a cybernetic blue eye, and on the right side of his face was covered blue lines that went down his neck and disappeared on his chest, once again reappeared on his right arm. The lines were reminiscent of the alien form Ben had dubbed "Upgrade", except the color was a luminescent blue instead of dark green. The lines went down to his wrist, where the lines all met and created a strange "X"
The figure to cyborg's left was slightly larger than him, with a bigger build and only slightly taller. On his chest was a large "U" shape, resembling a horseshoe. The horseshoe glowed the same shade of blue.
And finally, the figure to the cyborg's right was undeniably feminine, with curves that Ben would stare at had the situation not been so dire. The woman's eyes glowed dark purple, and Ben could feel her gaze.
The clouds above them broke, and the shadows that the figures wore like armor was pried away. Ben gulped as the light enveloped them, and he saw who they were.
The man with the horseshoe had long, black, greasy hair. His suit was white, similar to that of a plumbers, with a blaster on his waist, and fists that seemed too large to be human. The man eyes were black, and bore a striking resemblance to Kevin.
The woman's body was covered in black leather that only complemented her curvy figure. Her face was covered with a cat like mask and a dark scarf that covered her mouth. She had short reddish hair that Ben could just barely see. Her hands sparked, and suddenly she was holding purple energy constructs that seemed reminiscent of how Gwen prepared for a fight.
And the cyborg in the middle. He had dark brown hair that was cut short in military fashion. On his head was a horizontal scar just above his eyes. Ben could see that, between the blue lines, was black technology that looked eerily familiar. He wore a camouflaged pants with black military boots. A pistol was strapped to his left leg. He wore a gray muscle shirt tucked into his pants. The shirt had black, bold letters above his heart.
"O-10 Tennyson"
"My name is Admiral Tennyson of the United Interstellar Alliance." the cyborg said. Ben gulped. "It's a misdemeanor to carry level 20 technology without a permit." he said.
"uh-" Ben began. His counterpart interrupted him.
"but it's a felony to try and recreate the Omnitrix. Even if you failed miserably at it."
"Wait-"
"Who are you?" he interrupted again. Ben gulped.
"I...uh..." Ben started. He glanced at Kevin and Gwen who stood beside them. They saw the resemblance as well. He turned back to their counterparts, who didn't see what they saw.
"I'm...we're-"
Ben was once again cut off when a metallic sound beeped. Ben's counterpart's arms and eye flashed. A mildly feminine voice came from his body, Ben recognized it as the voice of the Omnitrix.
"Identification: Ben Tennyson, approximate age Sixteen. Kevin Levin, approximate age seventeen. Gwen Tennyson, approximate Age sixteen...Logic Error."
"Don't strain yourself, Omnitrix." Ben's counterpart spat in disgust. "They're clones."
"We should be flattered." Gwen's counterpart joked.
"Not very good clones." Kevin's counterpart remarked. "I'm much better looking than that."
"We're not clones." Ben remarked. He put his arms up, a completely subconscious action. But Ben's counterpart wasn't trained to see that what everyone else would see. He saw him reaching slowly for his knock-off Omnitrix...
Within an instant, Ben's counterpart had his hand wrapped around Ben's wrist. Ben looked into his counterparts eyes to see that the iris of his right eye was replaced with a blue Omnitrix icon.
"Gamma formation!" Ben's counterpart yelled. "Take them down."
Instantly, a blue and purple flash sped past the two Ben's, taking on their counterparts. Ben looked back, but was unable to see anything before his counterpart grabbed his arm and pulled it behind Ben's own back.
"What are you doing?" Ben yelled. But he knew. He disabled his ability to touch his Ultimatrix. Suddenly, his skin was cold. His counterpart let go, but Ben was unable to move his arm. He looked down to see frost on his pants, and when he maneuvered his neck, he could see his left hand was frozen to his back, just above his waistline.
"The boy had forced Azmuth to modify the technology. He no longer had to transform into other alien forms. He had all their powers in his human form." Vilgax's words surged through Ben's head, and he realized how doomed he was.
He looked at his counterpart and raised his arm to stay off the next attack.
"Wait! Please-"
But his counterpart was not one to listen to the pleas of his enemies. He grabbed his left hand and pulled the Ultimatrix towards his eyes. It only took him a second to examine the Ultimatrix and respond, in a mildly angered voice.
"This is no ordinary knock off." he looked into Ben's eyes as he tightened his grip. "Who made you? Who gave this to you?"
"We're not clones!" Ben yelled. "I'm really Ben Tennyson, but I'm from-" he stopped. "Wait a second, why I'm I telling you? You're evil!"
Ben rammed his head into his counterparts, trying to break free of his grasp. But, instead, he seemed to hit something as strong as steel. His head bounced off, bloodier than before, but his counterpart did not let go.
"That was stupid." he muttered to Ben as he lost conscientiousness. He pushed Ben's arm into his chest and used his abilities to freeze his arm to himself. He pushed Ben over, pushed his legs together, and froze them as well.
Ben's counterpart touched a communicator in his ear.
"Status?"
Gwen used her fields to stabilize herself, but before she could, her counterpart punched her in the stomach, effectively breaking her concentration. As Gwen doubled over, she saw, much to her horror, that her counterpart possessed all the charms of Bezel on her right arm.
Gwen's counterpart backhanded Gwen, and she fell to the ground. Gwen charged up a magical attack, but her counterpart beat her to it, shouting some magic words. Gwen's pink energy constructs fizzled and died. Gwen looked at her counterpart, who raised her arm and shaped her fingers into a gun.
"Sorry sweetheart. But lucks on my side."
A purple bolt came out of her fingers and disappeared into Gwen's skull. Gwen closed her eyes and fell to the ground, asleep before her knees touched the concrete.
Gwen's counterpart's ear buzzed. A voice came over her communicator.
"Status?"
"Got mine." she responded. "Kevin?"
Kevin touched a metal pole, absorbing its qualities. He stared at his counterpart and chuckled.
"So what do they call you? The amazing horseshoe?"
"You have no idea how many times I've heard that." he responded with only a hint of anger. "But it's Omega. Kevin Omega."
"Uh-huh." Kevin rushed his counterpart. He put all his strength into one punch. His counterpart raised his hand, catching the punch without difficulty. Kevin withdrew his hand and, without questioning how he could do such a feat, rushed him again. And again. And again. Each time his counterpart did nothing but raise his hand and wave off what Kevin knew to be a super powered punch.
Finally, Kevin had enough. He stopped rushing his counterpart and yelled.
"How do you keep doing that!" his counterpart smiled.
"Kinetic energy absorption." he responded. He held out his hand, outstretched his finger, and tapped Kevin's metallic skin. "And redirection."
Suddenly, Kevin felt as if though he had just been punched by god himself. His metallic skin splintered off, and the concrete under him shattered. He fell to his knees, the pain overwhelming him.
Kevin's counterpart turned to see his allies subdue their targets. His ear piece buzzed.
"Status?" Ben asked.
"Got mine." Gwen responded. "Kevin?"
"You know it." he responded. He bent down and grabbed who he thought to be his clone. He whispered.
"Now you know why they call me omega." he snickered. He put his clone over his arm and walked over to Gwen and her clone. She levitated her over to where the two Ben's waited for them.
"Seriously? My clone couldn't even counter anything." Gwen joked. "I mean come on. I was way tougher than this when I was sixteen."
"Yeah. Me too." Kevin said. "And you, Ben?"
Ben looked down at his clone. He grabbed him by the neck and lifted him.
"Omnitrix. Scan him." he ordered. His blue eye glowed, and light poured over Ben.
"What's up?" Gwen asked.
"Something he said..." Ben muttered. "Called me evil."
"That's not very nice." Gwen joked.
"Baseline DNA is the same as Ben Tennyson at age Sixteen...Logic Error."
"Clones?" Ben asked.
"Most likely...Logic Error."
"Why does it keep saying that? Logic Error?" Kevin asked.
"Because it's saying that their clones. But if they were clones, why would they be younger than us? And why doesn't his DNA show signs of degradation like in most clones?"
"Must be a good clone." Gwen responded.
"No..." he said, more to himself than anyone. "No. Something's up." Ben's counterpart looked around. He saw the crater in the concrete which he had overlooked as inconsequential before.
"Scan." Ben's counterpart ordered. His Eye once again showered the area in blue light. "Results. Tell me of any energy signatures."
"Electricity Energy...Minor Radiation...Fossil Fuels..."
"Anything that shouldn't be on a road, Omnitrix." He growled.
"Magical Energy signature."
"That's me." Gwen's counterpart filled in.
"Trace unknown Energy signature."
"What is it?" Ben's counterpart asked.
"Energy signature is made up of particles that resemble that of the particles found in Null Void transfer weapons."
"They're from the Null Void?" Kevin asked.
"No. The Null Void gun breaks the Dimensional barrier and creates a break in reality." Ben's counterpart remarked. He nodded his head, understanding. "Guys. I think we're looking at ourselves from a different Reality. A different universe."
I smiled. He was on to me. Soon, i would be recognized. Even he would have to admit it. But i knew not that his revelation would be the beginning of the end of me and my experimenting.